Harry Potter and the Reign of Darkness
by SiriuslyObsessed
Summary: Harry has recurring dreams about his friends’ deaths. To what lengths will he go to keep them safe? Pranks, parseltongue, runaway!Harry, Knockturn Alley, deaths, DE attacks, and a face-off with Voldemort, all before school even begins!
1. The Hogwarts Massacre

**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Reign of Darkness

Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Massacre

It was a sweltering hot night, and Harry Potter was currently lying face down on his bed. The old smell of the pillow his relatives had so 'graciously' provided him with clouded his nostrils, making him scrunch up his nose. He heaved a heavy sigh and with a frustrated grunt, turned around to lie on his back facing the ceiling. Harry hadn't done much of anything else this summer besides lie on his bed and think.

Thinking.

That was definitely Harry's least favorite activity. But unfortunately, there wasn't anything else to do in the summer for Harry Potter. He tried to keep himself busy by doing nearly anything--that even included Aunt Petunia's chores.

Looking toward his window, Harry noticed his dark curtains swaying with what little wind there was. It oddly reminded him of the veil at the Department of Mysteries. Thinking about the veil, the image of his godfather immediately popped up into his head. Harry was never going to hear his bark-like laugh, see his mischievous gleam in his eyes, or even his happy smile whenever he talked to Harry. As much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, Harry knew it was his fault Sirius was dead. If only Harry had listened to Hermione and hadn't gone to the Department of Mysteries. If only Harry had opened Sirius' mirror and used it. If only Harry had found another way to contact an Order member. If only Harry had just trusted Snape to do his job for the Order and wait for him to inform the rest of them. If only Harry hadn't had tried to 'be the hero'. If only Harry would have tried harder at his Occlumency lessons. If only....

The list was endless. There were so many things Harry could have done differently to avoid Sirius' death, but didn't. All summer Harry had received sympathetic letters from his friends telling him not to blame himself, but he couldn't help it.

Thinking about Sirius, Harry also couldn't help but think about everyone else he'd indirectly killed. There was Cedric, whom Harry hadn't thought of a lot during the past school year. He figured it would be better just pushing Cedric's death to the back of his mind, but now, Harry thought it an insult to do just that. By now, Cedric would have grown up into a happy young man with a respectable job and a steady and beautiful girlfriend. But because of him, he would never have the opportunity to do any of the things he should be doing. Harry knew that just like with Sirius, Cedric's death was his fault as well.

Of course, Harry couldn't forget about his parents' death either. His fun-loving father, who had courageously attempted to protect his family and stood up to the most feared wizard of the wizarding world. His beautiful mother had given her young life so a little tiny infant could live.

All because of him and the stupid prophecy.

While thinking, Harry didn't realize that his eyes were slowly drifting shut and he was plunged into the activity he hated even more than thinking.

Dreaming.

This summer, Harry had had the same dreams over and over again of Sirius falling through the veil. But this one was very different...

_Harry was walking around a set of unusually empty halls. The cold stone walls felt real to the touch as he ran his fingers on them while walking. Harry could almost taste the stale air around him. After roaming for a short time, Harry realized that these were the walls of Hogwarts, the only place he'd ever considered home. The quiet was deafening to Harry's ears. Walking along, Harry was surprised to notice he had practically no control over where he was going. It was like an invisible force leading him to the Great Hall. When he got there, the mysterious force abruptly stopped and Harry tripped but managed not to fall. Pushing the heavy oak doors open Harry saw what he was sure would haunt him for a very, very long time. It was the sickest thing he'd ever seen and he was dangerously close to losing his lunch._

_The Great Hall was missing the four house tables as well as the head table and the ceiling was reflecting a dark and stormy sky with the hideous Dark Mark clearly visible. But surprisingly, that wasn't what caught Harry's eyes._

_Scattered all around the Great Hall were all of Hogwarts students as well as, Harry noticed, its teachers. They were all dead._

_Some bodies were twisted at odd angles, others were very bloody, and there were even some that were missing heads, arms, legs and other limbs._

_He couldn't stand the appalling sight in front of him anymore and turned around fully intending on leaving the Great Hall. Harry tried to open the heavy oak doors of the Great Hall only to find they were locked. Harry tried pulling and pushing them harder but to no avail. Starting to panic, Harry reached inside of his trouser pockets to retrieve his wand, only to find them empty. He didn't have his wand on him. By now fully panting and sweating, Harry started to get hysterical and turned back facing the bodies. Making up his mind, Harry averted his eyes from the bloody massacre and quickly ran towards the side chamber of the Great Hall where he first went in his fourth year after the goblet of fire spit his name out. But before he could get even halfway across the hall, Harry tripped on something solid and fell. Recovering quickly with only a painful sting in his right ankle that was sure to leave a big bruise, Harry got up only to fall back down when he caught sight of what he tripped over in the first place._

_Right there, staring back at him with a painful expression on his frozen face, was none other than his best friend-Ron Weasley. Biting back a scream, Harry started violently shaking his best friend's shoulders._

_"Wake up Ron. C'mon Ron, don't do this to me, you have to wake up. You can't be dead. WAKE UP, DAMMIT!" he cried at the frozen figure hysterically. By the end, Harry was screaming so loud he was sure his lungs were going to explode. Harry couldn't fight the sobs that were threatening to take over his body. Harry and Ron rarely hugged because it wasn't the 'manly' thing to do, but right now Harry was clinging to his limp body as if he were going to suddenly disappear. Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry caught sight of something red. Turning fully to see what it was, Harry saw Ron's little sister, Ginny, staring straight ahead at the ceiling. Her neck was twisted at an unusual angle that Harry was sure couldn't have twisted like that in normal circumstances._

_Harry was still sobbing when he looked next to Ginny and noticed his other best friend, Hermione.__ Hermione's usually fairly tanned skin was white as snow. She, just like Ron, was also most probably hit with the killing curse. The shocked expression on her beautiful face broke him into more and more tears. _

_The castle was still silent except for Harry's continued sobs. Realizing he was still clinging to Ron's robes, Harry quickly let go as though they would burn him and jerkily stood up._

_"I have to get out of here," Harry stated out loud once again starting to panic. With one last anguished look at all of his friends, Harry started to run once again towards the side chamber door next to where the head table used to stand. Dodging bodies and limbs while running, Harry finally reached the door. Harry didn't hesitate twisting the door knob to open the door._

_It was locked._

_By now Harry was hysterical and hyperventilating. Looking around himself, Harry froze. About ten feet away from him, lay a very bloody Albus Dumbledore. His usually beautifully assembled attire was ripped and bloody, and his shining white beard was smeared with dirt and blood. But to Harry the scariest thing about him wasn't any of the blood, but rather his eyes. His eyes, which Harry had always looked into to receive comforting and hope, were totally expressionless and cold and had absolutely no sign that a twinkle belonged in them. The eyes were staring exactly at him, pinning him down with their dull intensity. _

_That's when Harry broke down completely. Turning away so he was facing the wall away from all of the bodies and Dumbledore's eyes, Harry sobbed the hardest he'd ever done in his life. _

_He cried for what felt like years until a continued sharp tapping on the side of his head lulled him out of his horrendous nightmare. _

Opening his wet eyes, Harry saw Hedwig's concerned eyes staring back at him. Looking around himself, Harry thankfully realized he was back in his small bedroom at Pivet Drive.

Harry was still shaking violently. Panting, he quickly got out of his sweat covered bed and walked a few steps toward his window. Looking outside, Harry noticed it was dark already and that he must have been dreaming for at least a few hours. Harry inhaled the cool night air deeply and exhaled just as deeply.

Harry sat there staring out his window for what felt like hours trying to get the horrendous images out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, Harry either saw Ron's scared face staring back at him, or Ginny's twisted body that used to be so full of life, or Hermione's white face. The worst were Dumbledore's accusing eyes, void of any twinkle, staring back at him.

Shaking his head as if swatting away an annoying fly, Harry got up from his place by the window to tip-toe outside of his room towards the bathroom. The Dursleys were all already peacefully asleep and he struggled to remember the last time he, himself, had a restful sleep.

Turning the sink tap all the way to cold, Harry cupped his hands and splashed the freezing water over his face. Looking up into the mirror, Harry noticed his dripping face was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. Grabbing a comb from the nearby counter, Harry started combing his hair to at least try to improve his appearance a little in case some unexpected visitors came like last year. He didn't want to scare them to death by his appearance. Over the summer, Harry had grown a few inches, making him looks skinnier than ever. At the thought of Ron, Harry's mind instantly returned to his nightmare and Ron's motionless body. Shaking his head and putting the comb down, Harry noticed his hair was still sticking up in all different directions and still looked like it had never been brushed before. 'I guess some things never change' Harry thought amusingly. Harry opened the bathroom door to go back to his room when he accidentally hit his right ankle on the sharp edge of the door. Quickly overcoming the stab of pain, Harry looked down and lifted up his pant-leg to notice a big bruise. Noting that it couldn't have formed so fast, and not remembering any bruises from before, Harry stared dumbly at it for a few seconds trying to remember where he had got it. Shaking his head in mild confusion, Harry walked toward his bedroom.

Opening the door, Harry gasped.


	2. Dancing Snape and a Sarcastic Snake

A/N: Hey everyone! I am so sorry for not updating yesterday like I said I would! I wanted to so bad, but my internet wasn't working at all! I'm at school right now. I tried going on my brother's computer and my dad's computer and their internet didn't work either, so obviously the whole house was down. I would have asked my dad to fix it but him and my mom just left to go on vacation to Brazil. Argh!! I was so mad, you should have seen me! Again, I'm sorry!

Thank you to The-Imortal, epholge, & JadeLMSkywalker for reviewing. Also thanks to epholge for telling me how to italicize, but I'm not sure if it worked. I love you guys!   
  


I know the last chapter was a little depressing, as some people kindly pointed out to me, but unfortunately (for Harry) his dreams in this story are very depressing (at least in the beginning). Good news to the people who don't like the depressing parts is that this chapter and the next don't have any depressing dreams (at least not any with a lot of detail). Chapter 4 will have one again though, but I'll warn you guys ahead of time.  
  


I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
  
  
  
  
  


Right there, perched around his room, were at least half of a dozen owls staring back at him. Quickly overcoming his temporary stupor, Harry went around each one and untied their packages and letters and gave them each an owl treat. Looking quickly at the battered up digital clock next to his bed, Harry noticed it was past midnight meaning it was his birthday. He had completely forgotten about it until now; he obviously had other things on his mind.  
  


Hoping opening presents would distract him a little, he grabbed the nearest letter. Opening it, he surprisingly noticed it was from all of the members of the DA. It seemed like all of the members had pitched in to get him a present and the card was signed by all of the members (except, he noticed, Marietta Edgecomb, the traitor to the DA). The new sixth years of the DA thanked Harry for helping them get an 'Outstanding' on their OWL's. Harry was both surprised and pleased that they all received an 'Outstanding' on their DADA O.W.L. He was yet to receive his own O.W.L.'s. Harry carefully unwrapped the box that was covered in what was undoubtedly charmed wrapping paper. The wrapping paper had little lions and badgers walking around, as well as snakes slithering around, and eagles flying around. There was a red, a blue, a yellow, and a green ribbon at the top. Ron always made fun of Harry for taking such care opening the wrapping paper of his presents; he'd always tell Harry to just rip it. Shaking his head with amusement, Harry looked down at the now unwrapped present. It was a defense book that was simply named '1001 Defense Moves by: Hilbert Littleton'. Flipping through it, Harry realized it must be charmed because from the outside it looked fairly thin and looked like it only had about 200 pages when it no doubt had a lot more. Setting it aside to look at more closely later, Harry grabbed the next package.  
  
Harry noticed it was a very colorful box. It had neon yellow, green, pink, and orange swirls all over the surface of it. Realizing who it was from, Harry carefully and slowly opened the box as if expecting something to shoot out of it as soon as it was opened. Suddenly, ducking, Harry realized that he had been right: something did shoot out of it. Harry ducked just in time before what looked like a bright neon pink paint blob shot out and landed on the wall next to his bed. Harry swore out loud and was thinking of ways to try to explain to his relatives just why he had a big, bright, neon pink paint blob on his wall when he realized it was starting to move. After moving around for about a minute, it looked like an exact replica of Professor Umbridge with her sickly sweet smile. Harry just gaped at it, hoping the blob would form something else, because he honestly didn't want a smiling Professor Umbitch...err... Umbridge staring at him while he was in bed. Harry shuddered just thinking about that thing being permanent before he realized it was moving again. The vile blob that was Professor Umbridge started dancing. Harry didn't know if he should laugh or be disgusted. Before he had a chance to decide a second figure appeared next to Umbridge. To Harry's horror, a replica of his greasy haired git of a Potions professor appeared next to Umbridge on the wall and took her hand. He lifted the back of her chubby hand to his mouth and kissed it. Harry was pretty sure he was going to throw up if this kept going. Harry shuddered and laughed at the same time when Umbridge and Snape started dancing together. Harry didn't know a lot about dance, but to him it looked like they were doing the tango. It looked like Snape was going in for the kill and was going to kiss her and Harry thought that if he had to watch, he'd be scarred for life. As if reading his mind, the picture exploded with a powerful *boom*. The pink paint splashed all over everything including himself and Harry was trying to hear any noise in the corridor to check if his relatives heard. But fortunately, all he heard was a loud snore from Dudley's room. The pink paint fizzed and disappeared to Harry's delight. 'Okay, that was definitely the weirdest birthday present I've ever received' Harry thought still trying to get the image of Umbridge and Snape dancing out of his mind. Shaking his head in amusement, Harry decided to open the note that came with the package.  
  


Harry,

Happy Birthday! To show our gratitude to our number one investor

or rather our only investor

we proudly present you with the Ultimate Animated-Blob package. 

It's our newest invention and you're the first person to try it!

Besides us of course.

It comes in pink, green, orange, and yellow! And refill kits are now also available so make sure you keep the box!

Just be careful when you open the box, you might want to duck.  
  


'That teaches me to open the card first' Harry thought.  
  


We also included some candy in your present that your fat cousin, Bubbly, was it? would love to'accidentally' find.

Enjoy!

Talk to you soon,  
  
Gred and Forge  
  


Trying to fight back his laughter, Harry put the card inside of the colorful box filled with all types of colorful candy that Harry was sure he didn't even want to think about trying, and put it aside reaching for the next package, this time making sure he opened the card before the present.  
  


Opening the letter, Harry instantly recognized Ron's squiggly handwriting.  
  


Still grinning from Fred and George's present, he began to read.  
  


Harry,  
  
Hey mate! Are those fat Dursley's treating you alright? 

I don't know if you've heard but dad got a promotion! Isn't that wicked? We got to go shopping and actually buy books that are new!

No wonder he got a promotion, I don't think the ministry is doing so well. The 'Daily Prophet' is basically worshiping you and Dumbledore.

I got the best news! I talked to McGonagall 'cause she was over here a few days ago, and I asked her whether you're still off the Quidditch team, she gave me the weirdest face, and I quote her,

"Mr. Weasley, do you honestly think that anything that....that....woman did or said last year is still in effect this year? You must be thicker than I thought!"

Isn't that wicked? Well except that she called me thick, but I mean that you're on the Quidditch team again?

Well considering that good news, I obviously had to get you a present to celebrate that fact!  
  


See ya soon, mate!  
  


Ron  
  


P.S. Oh yeah, Happy Birthday!  
  


By the end of the letter, Harry's grin almost reached his ears. Deciding that since it was Ron's present, Harry ripped the paper off and opened the small box. Before Harry could see what it was that was inside, a golden blur went whizzing by his head. Startled, Harry looked around to where he thought the blur went. He saw it was buzzing by his closet, and Harry immediately recognized what it was. But his grin quickly faded when he noticed the window was still open. Not wanting his new present to fly out the window, Harry jumped off his bed and closed it with a snap. Next, Harry went towards his new toy and tried to grab it but it was obviously smarter than Harry gave it credit for, and it flew off around the room. For more than five minutes, Harry tried grabbing it, only to have it fly out of reach again. Harry had a sudden idea and just stood still. His new toy flew closer and closer to him as if taunting him to catch it until it was directly in front of him. With reflexes quick as lightning, no doubt from years of being a seeker, Harry snatched it right up tightly into his hand.  
  


Laughing softly, Harry sat back on his bed and put his new Golden Snitch into the box that came with it. "Wicked Ron!" Harry spoke under his breath, still grinning.  
  


Putting the box aside and throwing away the wrapping paper, Harry was about to reach for the next gift, when a hiss startled him and he jumped off bed his taking his wand off his night table. Harry stood in an attack position for a whole minute before thinking he just imagined it and sitting back on his bed. Again reaching for his next present, Harry was 100 percent sure he heard hissing this time, but it sounded like words. He was sure he heard a distinct ~Let me out~. Reaching for the box with the holes on it, Harry slowly opened it. What he inside, made him gasp. Inside of the box was the most beautiful snake he'd ever see. It was a tiny snake, not even a foot long, but the color was the beautiful thing about it. It was all silver with beautiful gold stripes on its body. Harry was still staring at it, when the snake gracefully slithered out of the box onto Harry's bed. ~Finally~ That effectively snapped Harry out of his stupor.  
  


~Hello~ Harry hissed to the little snake. If snakes could jump, Harry was sure that's exactly what this one did.  
  


~You speak our tongue~ the snake hissed looking at Harry for the first time.  
  


~Erm...yeah~ Harry hissed not sure what else to say to a snake. Harry reached for the note that was attached to the box and recognized Hagrid's almost illegible handwriting right away. Harry bit down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing and opened the note.  
  


Dear Harry,  
  


Happy Birthday! I hope those dirty excuse of muggles are treating you alright, if not, make sure to tell me and I swear I'll show 'em. I'm sure your cousin would like some ears to match that tail of his.

Grawp mentioned you and especially Hermione a few times these past few weeks.  
  


Harry snorted at this.  
  


I hope you like your present. I figured you needed someone to talk during these times. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened to Sirius, Harry. He was a fine man.  
  


Enjoy your birthday and I'll see you in September!  
  


Hagrid  
  


After finishing the letter, Harry smiled sadly at the parchment, not really seeing it.   
  


~You okay?~ Startled, Harry looked down at the beautiful silver snake.  
  


~Oh, yeah, just fine~ Harry hissed back scathingly.  
  


~Snippy, snippy, are we?~ The snake hissed haughtily slithering down Harry's bed.  
  


~Hey, where are you going?~ Harry asked the snake surprised.  
  


~Well, I'm so sorry for worrying you, but you do realize I've been stuck in that box for a long time since that giant furry human put me in it~ the snake hissed back sarcastically.  
  


Harry gasped. Of course! The snake has been stuck in that box for so long, it must be hungry or at least thirsty. ~I'm so sorry! I completely forgot. Do you want something to eat, or drink? I don't know, what do snakes eat? Mice, right? Wait, no maybe not...you're too small. How about worms and stuff?~ While Harry was busy rambling, he didn't notice the amused look on the snake's face (as much amusement as a snake can show) and that it slithered back in front of Harry.  
  


~First of all, we don't actually drink, as you humans call it, we sometimes sit in water though. Next, yes we eat worms and stuff, whatever that means.~ Harry had to fight back a laugh.  
  


Harry jumped as if remembering something important. ~Oh, do you have a name? Did Hagrid name you?~  
  


~No, and who's 'Hagrid'?~  
  


~Hagrid is the man that I believe you called the 'giant furry human'?~ Harry said with a raised eyebrow trying to bite back a laugh again as he answered the snake. ~Well, I can't really think of a name off the top of my head, but you are a male, right?~  
  


If at all possible, the snake looked offended and answered with an indignant ~Yes~

Harry laughed at this and if possible, the snake looked even more offended. Seeing this, Harry hissed a quick ~Sorry~.  
  


Biting back a yawn, Harry looked over at his battered up clock and surprisingly saw that it was almost four in the morning. Turning back to the snake, Harry hissed. ~Well, will you be okay if I left you outside for the night? That way you could eat because I don't have any worms or bugs in my room~ "At least I don't think I do." Harry added to himself.  
  


At the snake's consent, Harry carried it downstairs and left him out in the garden for the night, promising he'd come get him in the morning. After tiredly climbing the stairs, Harry lazily took the rest of the presents off the bed telling himself he'd open them the next day, and climbed in, immediately falling asleep upon his head hitting his pillow, but unfortunately for him, not a very peaceful sleep.

  
  


A/N: Please review and tell me what you think! Did you guys like Harry's presents so far? Also, I'm taking suggestions for Harry's pet snake's name. I was thinking about 'Ziggie?', does that sound okay? Tell me if any of you really hate it, okay? 

Next Chapter: Harry's really, really good presents are coming up! Also, you'll get to see Aunt Petunia freak out! 


	3. All for One and One for All

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned in this story except for Harry's snake.  


A/N: Thanks to jen c., Facade1, crater212, JadeLMSkywalker, PheonixMan, & narf1989 for reviewing! I love you all!! Keep it up!  


Okay everyone, the people that actually commented on the name 'Ziggie' didn't like it at all....I thought it would have been cute but I guess I was the only one. But thinking it over a little more, i realized that Facade1 was right and I'm not sure if the snake would like Ziggie all too much, like Facade1 said, it has to be more 'manly'...lol

So everyone, please, I'm begging you, help me find a name for Harry's snake!! I've been thinking for so long and I've been to tons of name websites but I can't come up w/ anything! I wanted a magical name but none of them I've seen really seem to do 'snake' justice. If you want some more characteristics of the snake (in case it helps you think of a name for it), here's some: 'Snake' is sarcastic, but loyal. Even though he hasn't been Harry's pet for a long time, he cares a lot for him and his well-being. 'Snake' doesn't think very highly of humans, I'm not sure if you got a chance to notice yet. You'll see more of his characteristics as the story progresses.

Again, I'm begging you guys, please help me come up with a name. Here's some ideas some ppl told me, tell me which, if any, you like: Hewitt, Euclid, Zaccheus, Galen, Alexander, Miles, & Seth. I'm not sure if I like any of those names, but it's up to you guys...  
  
  
  
  
***

Harry heard a bloodcurdling scream and a saw flash of bright green light.   
  


"Kill the spare." Harry saw Cedric's surprised expression. More deadly green light and Cedric's body falling limply to the floor.  
  


Harry saw his father hurrying and panicking. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-" Harry saw a door burst open and a cackle of high-pitched laughter.  
  


More green light.  
  


Harry saw his mother's beautiful face contorted in fear, begging."Not Harry! Not Harry! Please-I'll do anything!"  
  


A final flash of green light that's haunted his nightmares for as long as he can remember.   
  


The green light faded to black and his view zoomed out revealing the Department of Mysteries and Sirius and his cousin, Bellatrix. He saw Sirius laughing. "Come on, you can do better than that!"   
  


He saw Sirius' surprised face after being struck by Bellatrix's curse. He saw his face looking directly at him before his back arched gracefully and fell back through the veil.  
  


Harry wanted run to him, save him, shout out to him, do something.  
  


Just then, Harry's scar burst open with unimaginable pain. Harry screamed but his scream was drowned out by someone else's even louder unhuman screech.  
  
***

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"   
  


Harry woke up and sat up straight in bed hearing an unnaturally high and loud scream from downstairs.  
  


Scrambling as quick as possible to get out of bed, only wearing his boxers, Harry grabbed his wand from under his pillow and rushed down the stairs to where he heard the scream.   
  


When Harry got down the stairs, he saw his Aunt Petunia with the front door open, still screaming at something outside. Fearing the worst, Harry hurried outside. Seeing nothing but his screaming aunt, Harry decided to say something.  
  


"Umm...Aunt Petunia? Are you alright? What's the matter?" Harry noticed by now, both a very grumpy looking Uncle Vernon and a bigger than ever, sleepy Dudley clad in Power Rangers pyjamas, arrive downstairs also.  
  


Aunt Petunia was still screaming and pointing at something on the ground. Looking down, Harry barely managed to hold in his laughter. Bending down to pick up his new pet, Harry held him out to his aunt, only to have her scream get louder if at all possible.   
  


"Aunt Petunia, calm down! It's just a snake." Harry looked down at his silver and gold snake. ~Are you okay?~ This was apparently the wrong thing to do, because by now, both his uncle and Dudley joined the screaming party.   
  


Firstly, Harry couldn't stand any more screaming, and secondly, Harry noticed he was still half naked so he did the only logical thing---he ran up to his room. Once inside, Harry broke down into a fit of laughter. After making sure his snake was alright, Harry grabbed some clean clothes and headed across the thankfully silent and scream-free corridor, to the shower.   
  


~*~*~*~  
  


On the way back to his room from the bathroom, Harry's stomach gave a loud growl, and Harry grimaced.  
  


Changing directions, Harry decided to get something to eat instead. Upon stepping into the kitchen, Harry noticed Dudley (who thankfully changed out of his much too small Power Ranger pyjamas that exposed half his stomach), a grumpy looking Uncle Vernon, and a jumpy Aunt Petunia, already sitting at the table. All of them were staring at him when he sat down and were following his every move with their eyes as if they expected him to hex them at any moment. Deciding he didn't like the glares he was receiving, Harry decided to grab two slices of toast from the plate in the middle of the table, and left quickly through the door. Harry knew he was testing his luck and couldn't avoid the inevitable. Harry closed his eyes and counted down the seconds in his mind, '5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1---'   
  


"BOY!" an angry voice called from the kitchen. Wincing, Harry turned around to go back into the kitchen.  
  


"Yes?" Harry answered carefully.  
  


"Yes? Yes? Is that all you have to say, boy?" Uncle Vernon boomed.  
  


"Err....yes?" Harry tried tentatively. Uncle Vernon visibly seethed. "Don't get cheeky with me boy!" At Harry's continued silence Uncle Vernon continued impatiently, "Well? What was that thing today?"  
  


"Oh, that was just my new pet snake that I got last night, for you know, my birthday." Harry answered emphasizing the 'birthday' to see his relatives' reaction. Uncle Vernon ignore the birthday part and decided to further question him, "Well what were you doing today hi...hissing at it?"  
  


"Oh I was just asking him if he was ok." Harry answered nonchalantly. This was apparently the wrong thing to say because by now Uncle Vernon's face was a deep shade of purple and he boomed in a less composed fashion, "Asking it? Asking it? Have you finally gone daft, boy?"  
  


"Well, no, but I did ask it. I'm a parselmouth." At his relatives' blank stares, Harry elaborated. "It's a wiz...person who can talk to snakes." Harry said all of this in a tone he would use if he were discussing a simple thing like the weather. At his explanation, Aunt Petunia squeaked, Dudley chocked on the sausage he was chewing and Harry thought he heard him whimper, and Uncle Vernon spluttered. Harry rolled his eyes and left his seat to go back to his room. Stomping up the stairs, Harry heard Uncle Vernon yelling something at his retreating back, but chose to ignore him this time, and slammed his bedroom door loudly shut.  
  


With a heavy sigh, Harry threw himself face down on his bed.  
  


~You alright?~ his still nameless snake asked. Turning around so he was facing the beautiful silver and gold snake, Harry answered, ~Yeah, sure, I'm fine.~ Taking a deep breath, Harry put a smile on his face and continued, ~So have you thought about what kind of name you want? No? Oh okay. Oh yeah, did I even tell you my name? You can just call me Harry.~  
  


If it was possible, Harry's snake seemed to smile possibly at accomplishing its task at distracting its young master, and slithered to the windowsill where the bright and hot morning sun was shining on.  
  


Harry looked around his room and noticed he still had closed presents on the floor next to his bed. Grabbing the nearest package, Harry took off its wrapping paper to find a medium-sized lumpy package. Opening it, Harry noticed it was from the Weasley clan. Inside he found some treacle fudge and some Honeydukes' candy. With a smile, Harry grabbed a honey flavored sugar quill and started to suck on the tip of it while grabbing the next package. It was heavy and Harry noticed a note attached to it. Opening it Harry read:  
  


Dear Harry,   
  


Happy Birthday! Guess what? I got 13 O.W.L.s!! Isn't that great?   
  


I picked up your present in Diagon Alley and thought it was perfect for you. Just remember: Don't judge a book by its cover!  
  


I'm at headquarters right now and Dumbledore told my parents to go on an extended vacation for a while because he figures it was dangerous for them right now considering they are my parents and I'm friends with...well never mind.   
  


I can't really say more, I'm not supposed to give any details, you understand, right?   
  


I hope your summer is going alright and please don't blame yourself, Harry. Sirius wouldn't have wanted you to. You know that.  
  


I hope I'll see you soon,  
  


Love From,  
  


Hermione  
  


Trying to ignore the annoying advice about not blaming himself, that she wrote in all her letters, Harry unwrapped the package to find a book. 'Surprise, surprise' Harry thought sarcastically. Harry laughed out loud at the cover of it. In bright yellow writing the book read 'So You've Got An Evil Dark Lord After You...by: Nathaniel Blackwell'. Harry thought this could definitely be useful.  
  


Carefully putting the heavy book to the side for later use, Harry reached for the next package. This one was small and Harry was surprised at what the tag read at the top.   
  


To Harry  
  


From Tonks and Moody  
  


Next to 'Harry' was a picture no doubt Tonks drew. It was a smiley face with a mop of messy hair at the top and exaggeratedly big round glasses and a lightning bolt on the smiley's forehead. Chuckling, Harry opened the little box. Inside was a glass picture frame with a picture inside. With a chill up his spine, Harry noticed the picture was the one Moody showed him last summer of the original Order of the Phoenix. Harry could clearly make out his parents and Sirius. Sirius looked so happy and at the time of the picture, was no doubt not thinking about how, soon, he would be spending twelve years in Azkaban. Tightening his jaw, Harry noticed a few people down from Sirius was Peter Pettigrew.   
  


Quickly putting the picture frame away, Harry noticed there were only two packages left. One was a rather large one with royal blue wrapping paper with twinkling stars and a silver bow on it, and the other one was a smaller package with plain brown paper around it. Deciding to leave the big one for last, Harry grabbed the small package first. Opening the note that was attached to it, Harry read:  
  


Dear Harry,  
  


This belonged to Sirius and I thought you'd like to have it. Please don't blame yourself, Harry, it's not your fault.  
  


I hope you enjoy your birthday.   
  


Remus Lupin  
  


Half-annoyed that everyone told him not to blame himself when it was clearly his fault, and half-curious to what was inside the box, Harry opened it up. Inside were a lot of cotton balls and Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. Harry flipped the small box over so that the contents would spill out of it.   
  


*cling*  
  


Something shiny fell to the floor. Bending over to pick it up, Harry gasped. He was holding a beautiful golden locket. The face of it was the beautiful part. On the front of it you could make out a small stag, a werewolf, a big dog, and a tiny little rat. The locket was obviously enchanted because all of the little animals were moving around. Harry noticed the dog was currently wagging its tail and barking although no sound came out of it. Harry chuckled under his breath seeing the stag and the werewolf playfully fighting. The stag was carefully using its antlers to push the werewolf back. Harry was a little angry to see the rat scuttling around until it looked like it left the picture on the left side. Turning the locket around to see where the rat went, Harry noticed an inscription reading 'Marauders - All For One and One For All'. At this, Harry made an angry sort of noise in the back of his throat thinking about Peter Pettigrew and how wrong that statement was. Wondering if the locket had anything in it, Harry carefully opened it up and gasped again. There were two pictures inside. On the left side of the locket, there was a wizard photo of all of the marauders when they were a little younger than Harry. In the picture, Sirius was currently giving Remus bunny ears while Remus didn't notice. James was playfully waving at the camera and Peter was watching them all happily. Remus finally seemed to notice Sirius' bunny ears and annoyingly swatted his fingers away all the while smiling. With a sad smile, Harry's eyes drifted towards the next picture on the right side of the locket. It was a picture of the marauders again but this time they were older. This picture however was of only Remus, Sirius, and his dad. 'Peter was probably busy kissing his master's feet' Harry thought angrily. Harry noticed that Sirius was happily bouncing a baby on his knees and laughing. Sirius was completely focused on the baby (that Harry noticed was himself) and didn't notice the picture being taken. It looked like Remus and James were playing wizard's chess, and they were both wearing expressions of complete concentration. With a gasp, Harry noticed a beautiful woman with long red hair stepping into the picture and sitting herself in his father's lap looking at Sirius and baby Harry with a smile playing on her lips. Harry continued to look at the moving picture for a few minutes before sadly closing the locket with a *click*.   
  


Brushing away a stray tear that escaped his eyes, Harry carefully put the locket with the fine gold chain around his neck and reached for the next package. This one was a lot larger and was a festive, royal blue. It had little silver stars twinkling back at him as well as a large silver bow at the top. Wondering who this could be from since he already got presents from all of the people who usually give him something, Harry carefully took off the wrapping paper. After doing that, Harry noticed it was a beautifully carved dark wooden box. Opening the box carefully, Harry peered inside and gasped. Harry was looking right into the silvery-white substance that he'd seen a couple of times before. Carefully reaching into the wooden box, Harry lifted out a shallow stone basin. It was very beautiful with odd runes and symbols on the side of it that Harry couldn't recognize. Inside of it, Harry could see a substance that wasn't quite liquid and wasn't quite gas. It was dense, so Harry couldn't see the bottom of the basin. It was a Pensieve.   
  


Harry was just gaping at it for a while. Harry knew Pensieves were very expensive. Not even Snape had one; he had to borrow Dumbledore's last year when teaching Harry Occlumency. Harry noticed that once again, he neglected to open the attached note before the present itself. Reaching for it now, Harry carefully unfolded it and read:  
  


Dear Harry,  
  


I hope you are enjoying your birthday. If I know you correctly, you have already opened the attached package. I figured it is a perfect gift for you; you no doubt must have a lot on your mind.  
  


I want you to know that you can always come talk to me or one of your friends; for instance Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley. Even if you don't talk to anyone, please Harry, at least use the Pensieve. It is not good to leave your feelings and emotions bottled up.  
  


Please don't blame yourself for your godfather's death as you must be doing now.  
  


Albus Dumbledore

  
  
  
  


Please review and tell me what you think! Was it horrible, bad, okay, good, or super? Please tell me...

Also, if there's anything specific you'd like to happen in this story, let me know! Again, I'm begging you guys, please help me come up with a name for Harry's snake. 

Thanks again, everyone!


	4. Oh, Potter, You Rotter

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters in this story. The only thing I own is the plot, Harry's snake, and the song in this story (except for the first verse, that's Peeves').  
  
  


A/N: WARNING: This chapter has another one of Harry's 'depressing' dreams in it. I suggest that if you don't like them, fast forward the italicized part (if the italics actually worked). Also, it's pretty gory and bloody again.

A/N: Thanks to **PheonixMan****, JadeLMSkywalker, jen c, Celtic55 (thanks for reviewing all 3 chapters), & **Facade1** (thanks for your idea). Keep up the reviews. I love you all!  
  
  
Chapter 4: Oh, Potter, You Rotter  
  
**

The next few days went by relatively uneventful for Harry. Each day Harry awoke from a new wave of nightmares, showered, went downstairs and had breakfast among the Dursley's glares, went back upstairs to read till lunchtime, did his chores for the day outside with his still unnamed snake, had dinner, went back upstairs and read until he fell into a not-so-peaceful sleep.  
  
  


Right now, Harry was outside with his snake comfortably wrapped around his wrist, mowing the lawn. He was thinking about returning to Hogwarts. A day after his birthday, when he was cleaning all of the wrapping paper from his presents, Harry came across his Hogwarts letter and noticed he hadn't opened it yet. He had gotten his O.W.L. scores and done fairly well--10 O.W.L.s. No doubt Hermione's influence was to blame for that. He was both relieved and disappointed when he found that he only got an 'Exceeds Expectation' in Potions. He was relieved because he wouldn't need to take Snape's class anymore and disappointed because to be an auror he needed to be in the N.E.W.T.s Potions class. _'Oh well,'_ Harry thought _'there's always professional Quidditch'_. Speaking of Quidditch, Harry was extremely happy to notice that Professor McGonagall made him captain of the Quidditch team. He had even gotten a red badge with a golden lion in the center of it with a large 'C' on it. The letter said he was to wear it on the Quidditch pitch. His uniform had also been altered and three gold stripes where added to it on Harry's upper arms.  
  


By the time Harry finished the lawn, his legs were aching. Harry heavily trudged up the stairs and went directly into the shower.  Letting the hot water beat on his painful back, Harry relaxed and let his shoulders droop. Today had been extra stressful. He had slept for an hour but awoken from a nightmare about Sirius again. Preferring not to sleep altogether, Harry had just stayed up all night reading Hermione's book which Harry found out was actually very interesting and informative despite its rather comical title. Harry had also stayed up and talked to his snake and learned more about him. He found that talking to him was very fun because of the snake's sarcastic manner. Harry could get things off his chest without worrying about other people finding out exactly what he was thinking. Harry liked that the snake wasn't prejudiced, because it didn't know any better, so Harry received a different point of view that he sometimes had never thought about before. Of course, this was also frustrating sometimes. It was always both comical and annoying trying to explain to the snake about simple things like what Coca Cola was and why people shampooed their hair.   
  
  


Lazily getting out of the shower and putting on some of Dudley's old massive sized sweat pants and a Quidditch t-shirt that he bought at Hogsmead last year, Harry went back into his room to read a little more. Getting out his Quidditch book which was about Seekers and legal strategies they could use successfully in a game, Harry began to read where he had left off in the section about feints. Reading for no more than twenty minutes, Harry started noticing the prickling in his eyes that always came when he was sleepy. He took off his glasses and started rubbing his eyes wearily. He didn't want to sleep. He didn't want to see his godfather's face when he fell through the veil, or Cedric's surprised expression, or his mother and father protecting Harry and ending their promising life early so their infant boy could live. With a frustrated sigh, Harry went back to his book but could only manage reading two lines before his eyes drifted closed and he was once more plunged into the horrendous world of nightmares.  
  
  


_~*~*~*~_  
  
  
  
  


_Harry was once more at Hogwarts. He was being pulled again by the invisible force. With a sinking heart, Harry noticed he was involuntarily headed towards the Great Hall once more. This time, Harry tried everything possible to resist the pull, but to no avail. When the force stopped pulling him at the large oak doors of the Great Hall, Harry, knowing what was coming, tried turning around so he wouldn't have to face the inevitable but, again, he wasn't able to move. Faintly, off through the doors, Harry heard a bone-chilling voice singing:_

_   "Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,_

_   You're killing off students, you think it's good fun -"_  
  
  


_But when the door banged open on its own account with a loud *boom*t, Harry knew it wasn't zany Peeves who was singing this time. It couldn't have been Peeves, for he, as well as the other Hogwarts ghosts, were all hanging by a faintly visible cord attached to their ankles from the Great Hall ceiling that was, again, reflecting a dark and stormy sky with the ghastly, green Dark Mark plastered among the swirling, angry-looking clouds. The ghosts looked almost like Nearly Headless Nick did when he was petrified in Harry's second year; no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black, smoky and almost dense. All of the ghosts of the four houses were there, even some he'd never seen. Moaning Myrtle's glasses were missing and Nearly Headless Nick's head was hanging by a thin strand of skin. The cold disembodied voice that caused Harry a chill that penetrated through his bones, was still singing:_  
  
  


_   "Oh, Potter, you rotter, you're to blame, _

_   Everyone's dead; still think it's a game?"_  
  
  


_Harry shivered hearing these words that were obviously not being sung by Peeves. Looking around the hall, he noticed that all of the bodies were still there. Knowing from experience now that there was no escape until he woke up, Harry started the age-old trick of pinching himself. With a sinking heart, Harry realized he still didn't wake up. Looking across the hall, Harry, once more, saw Dumbledore's accusing dull eyes staring at him; it seemed like they were following his every move. Starting to panic, Harry lifted up his right pant leg and grabbed a rather sharp bread knife he found on the littered floor of the Great Hall. Harry stabbed himself lightly enough not to cause any major blood loss, but hard enough to hurt and break the skin. He hissed, and looked around himself to see if he woke up yet, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the mysterious voice kept singing: _  
  
  


_   "Oh, Potter, you rotter, you better run fast,_

_   The Dark Lord will get you, and make sure you're last."_  
  
  


_Harry tried to avert his eyes, but they kept trailing back to the bodies lying across the vast stone Great Hall floor. Looking down at his feet, Harry jumped back quickly. Right where his feet used to stand, Harry noticed a girl's head he recognized as Susan Bones. Shaking his head and taking long, shallow breaths to try to calm down, Harry tried to ignore the sting in his leg. He didn't notice the tears streaming silently down his face._  
  


_Lifting his face back up, Harry started running toward the door while trying to dodge the bodies around the Great Hall, but it was difficult--the bodies were everywhere._  
  


_Harry finally reached the door and he knew it'd be useless, but he still tried opening it. He was right--it was locked. The cold voice was still singing:_  
  
  


_   "Oh, Potter, you rotter, you can't escape,_

_   He's going to kill you; it's your predestined fate."_  
  
  
  
  


_By now hysterical, Harry looked around himself (making sure to avoid Dumbledore's eyes) and saw his cruel Potions Master, Professor Snape, laying a few feet away. He had a huge bloody knife sticking out of his chest, and his usually greasy hair was covered in blood and sticking around to his face. Harry also noticed a few others of his teachers. Professor McGonagall's intestines were ripped out of her body. Swallowing the bile at the back of his throat, Harry turned to face the door once more. He was sitting down on the ground with his legs crossed Indian style rocking back and forth while sobbing and covering his ears trying to block out the annoying voice singing:_  
  
  


_   "Oh, Potter, you rotter, you can scream and cry,_

_   But, you best face it: they're still all going to die."_  
  
  


~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
  


By the end of the song, the cold voice faded to nothing and all Harry could hear was sobs. Looking around himself, Harry noticed he was the one sobbing back in his small bedroom. He breathed a sigh of relief only to abruptly jump up and quickly run to the bathroom. Harry vomited what he'd been trying to hold down in his dream. Panting heavily with tears still streaming down his face, Harry walked the few steps to the sink, turned the freezing water on, and washed his face.  
  
  


When Harry arrived back in his bedroom, he pulled the beautifully carved wooden box from his trunk, and took out the stone basin from the inside of it. Grabbing his wand, Harry closed his eyes and pointed it at his temple like he'd seen Dumbledore and Snape do before. Lowering his wand into the silvery-white substance in the Pensieve, Harry breathed another sigh of relief. It felt good to breathe in fresh air (his window was open) and not breathing in the stale air of the Great Hall where you could almost taste the fear, sweat and blood.  
  
  


Harry honestly couldn't stand it anymore. This was the second time he'd had that dream in one week. How did he know it wasn't going to come back? If the dream came back one more time, Harry was sure he would turn insane. Harry thought about writing to Dumbledore and asking him for some Dreamless Sleep potion, but he knew Dumbledore must be very busy. Plus, Harry was sure he'd ask what it was for and then he'd have to explain his whole dream to Dumbledore. Harry couldn't even think about Dumbledore's accusing dull eyes void of any twinkle staring back at him, much less explain it to the Headmaster. No, he'd definitely keep his dream to himself. This time it was even worse than last time; he noticed the ghosts, and that horrible disembodied voice sang that song. _'They're still all going to die...' _That terrible line kept repeating itself in Harry's mind.Shaking his head to rid himself of that voice and the thoughts that accompanied it, Harry got up off his bed where he was currently sitting, and walked towards his window. It was dark outside and he could see the stars clearly. He instinctively looked toward the brightest star of them all --the Dog Star..._Sirius_. It was twinkling madly and looked like it was winking at him. Smiling sadly, Harry stared at it for what felt like hours. He hesitantly turned away from it after a while and closed his window with a *snap*.   
  
  


Walking toward his bed, Harry froze when he felt a sting in his leg. Bending down to lift up his right pant leg, Harry gasped, momentarily stumbled and fell with a wince. Right there on his right leg, were both the bruise from the other night, and a semi-deep cut that still had blood around it. That wasn't normal, was it? Cuts made in dreams weren't supposed to still be there when someone woke up, right?   
  
  


Harry got up from the floor, and sat on his bed, still deep in thought. He obviously knew Voldemort would kill all of his friends if he got the chance. He couldn't stand the thought. Harry already had a lot of people dead because of him; he couldn't think of any more names being added to that list. Absentmindedly fingering the golden locket around his neck, Harry made up his mind. Whether from the lack of sleep or the jumbled mess of thoughts in his mind, Harry wasn't sure, but he came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea. He would run away. _'That's right, somewhere far away where no one will find me,' _Harry thought, _'that way no one will get hurt because of me, because Voldemort will be too busy looking for me to hurt any of them.' _  
  
  


With a triumphant grin on his face, Harry made up his mind. He'd run away to somewhere where no one would find him. 

Tonight.  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  


A/N: The first verse of the song was made up by Peeves (that's why Harry thought it was him singing; remember he sang it in second year?). The rest of the song was made up by me.  
  
  


_Please note that Harry was not trying to kill himself or anything when he stabbed himself. My brother 'kindly' pointed out to me that it seemed like Harry was trying to commit suicide or something. *rolls eyes* That shows what he knows. Why would you stab yourself in the _*leg*_ of all places if you were trying to commit suicide. He was simply trying to wake up so he figured if he hurt, he'd wake up easier--kinda like the pinching thing..._

_C'mon guys, if you saw all of your friends lying around dead (for the second time), you'd start to panic too and try anything to wake up..._  
  
  


Is there anything you've got questions about?? Anything you're not clear on?? If yes, make sure you tell me in your review. 

Thanks to everyone who suggested a snake name, but I've already decided. It's in the next chapter so you'll get to see that. I hope you're not disappointed. Thanks again and please review this chapter to let me know what you think!


	5. Hide and Go Seek

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling and not me. I own nothing except the plot, Harry's snake, and any other characters you don't recognize. Stan's speech belongs to J.K. Rowling.__

A/N: This chapter is my longest chapter by far until now—almost double as long as usual! A lot of things happen in it and it's one of my favorites so far. I hope you guys like it and please let me know if you do. I worked hard on it and a little feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

Wow…25 reviews!!! That's awesome. Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words! I started to do review responses for those of you who want to read them, they're at the bottom.

Here's the next chapter of Harry Potter and Lucifer's Reign. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Hide and Go Seek__

The Boy-Who-Lived breathed the fresh air in deeply.

In the last 20 minutes, Harry had packed all of his things and put them into his trunk. He didn't want to take his heavy trunk, but he, most likely, wouldn't come back to the Dursley's, and if he did the Dursley's would have surely gotten rid of his things in any way possible; knowing them, probably burned them.

Walking away from his childhood home—no, more like place of residence, because Harry could never consider Privet Drive his home— probably for the last time, dragging his trunk behind him, Harry realized that he didn't even know exactly _where_ he was going. He knew he needed money because he only had wizarding gold, and the only place to get money was Gringotts, or in other words--Diagon Alley. He _really_ didn't want to go into Diagon Alley. 

Since it was still early—4 a.m.—Harry decided to hail down the Knight Bus. He knew that wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he didn't have any other options. It was still too early to get a taxi or any other muggle transportation, and London was a huge city; Harry had no idea where the Leaky Cauldron was. Plus, Harry didn't think he could drag his trunk any further anyway. 

Setting his trunk down, Harry took his wand from his jeans' pocket, and raised it in the air like the last time he remembered accidentally calling the Knight Bus. _Last time..._last time Harry had been on the Knight Bus was because he tripped and accidentally called it because he saw Padfoot..._'C'mon get yourself together Potter, are you gonna start crying like a crybaby every time you think about him?'_

Shaking his head, Harry frowned at his wand. Nothing happened. Was he even supposed to use his wand for this? Perhaps he didn't do it right?  

BANG!

Jumping a foot into the air, Harry noticed the huge triple-decker bus in front of his eyes.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard, just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve—Neville! I mean 'Arry. 'Arry Potter! Hey Ern, come see, i's him." a wizard that looked a few years older than Harry said excitedly.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Harry hissed. "Stan, be quiet! Listen, I need to go to Diagon Alley, BUT" Harry added the 'but' when Stan opened his mouth as if to say something, "BUT, you can't tell anyone I took the Knight Bus if anyone asks, okay?" Stan looked unsure at this so Harry went on, "Please Stan, I need to get to Diagon Alley but no one can know. _Please." Harry pleaded._

"Look, 'Arry, I wouln' tell anyun but it's my job an' tell if someone asks. 'm sorry" Stan said looking remorseful. At Harry's dejected look, Stan went on in a secretive whisper, "I can' make no promises but I'll try, n'kay?"

"Thanks Stan, you're the best." Harry said enthusiastically.

"Yeah well." Stan blushed. By now Harry and Stan were seated on the first bed next to the driver. "Take 'er away, Ern."

With another mighty BANG! the Knight Bus was off. The bus was empty since it still was very early in the morning. Harry looked out the window while the bus was going down narrow country roads that it shouldn't have been able to fit through, and watched half-amazed and half-amused when houses had to jump out of the way of the bus. He'd been in the wizarding world for over five years now, and some things still never seized to amaze him. Thinking about the wonderful wizarding world, Harry couldn't help but feel sad about leaving. He would definitely miss it, but with a quick inconspicuous sniff, Harry decided it was for the best. He knew this was most probably the only way to protect his friends from Voldemort and getting hurt or _worse_. 

BANG! 

The Knight Bus once again stopped, this time in front of the Leaky Cauldron. With a quick 'thanks again' to Ernie and Stan, Harry was left outside in front of the shabby looking Leaky Cauldron with nothing but his trunk. The sky was slowly waking up and it was no longer completely dark outside. Deciding to hurry up in case anyone noticed him, Harry pulled the hood to the sweatshirt he was wearing over his head and opened the door to the dark pub, still dragging his trunk behind him. Immediately the wonderful smell of scrambled eggs and pancakes overwhelmed him, but with a protest of his stomach, Harry ignored the lure and made his way quickly to the back of the Leaky Cauldron before anyone could see him. Tapping the respective bricks with his wand, Harry stepped into the broad and colorful lane that was Diagon Alley. All of the shops were still closed, but Harry noticed that at the end of the alley where Gringotts magnificently stood, were some brightly shining lights.

Once Harry had finally gotten to Gringotts, he was pleased to see that it was indeed open. Stepping inside, he saw there was only one goblin working behind the counter. Harry made his way over while taking his key out of his pocket, preparing himself for a ride that could rival any roller coaster.

~*~*~*~

"Uh-huh." Harry said unenthusiastically.

Harry shifted in his uncomfortable fake-velvet seat. Next to him sat an old lady wearing a frilly green and pink dress that looked like it was from the '60s and way too much perfume. She kept ranting on and on about her Fabergé egg collection and offering Harry mints every few minutes.

 "Wow." Harry responded even less enthusiastically.

Trying to block out the droning voice of the old lady next to him, Harry turned towards the windows thinking about the day so far and where he was going next. 

Upon reaching his vault, Harry decided to leave his trunk in his vault knowing he couldn't drag it around with him wherever he went; it would obviously be safe at Gringotts. He had fished an old backpack from the bottom of his trunk and filled it with a few essentials including his father's old Invisibility Cloak--just in case. After getting enough money to last him a while and converting it to muggle pounds, Harry left quickly and walked around muggle London for a while until he came to a bus station. Harry bought a ticket to the bus that left the quickest, which just happened to be driving to somewhere in bloody Wales. 

Looking out the window, Harry saw they were currently in the middle of nowhere, and occasionally would see little farmhouses with cows grazing the fields around them. _'Just fan-bloody-tastic'_ Harry thought with a scowl. _'If it wasn't for the stupid prophecy and Voldemort, I wouldn't be in this damned mess.' _ Harry thought angrily. Maybe if the prophecy hadn't been made, he would be just waking up right now in a warm home with his mother calling him for breakfast. With this thought in mind, Harry fell into a light sleep.

_***_

_Harry was seated comfortably at a round oak table. The table was covered with a simple white lace tablecloth and in the middle of it stood a vase with beautiful white lilies blooming. The room around him seemed to be some type of kitchen. It was spacious and was decorated in warm tones with attractive colored tiles bordering the wall just above the counters. _

_"C'mon Lily, how much longer is breakfast going to take?" asked an impatient voice but clearly with a playful tone. Looking to the source of the voice, Harry saw his father's handsome body seated on a chair next to him. His face seemed so…_alive_ with a jovial expression on it._

_"Oh breakfast is finished, dear." His mother said with an innocent smile on her beautiful face. Her long auburn hair was currently flowing down her back in gentle waves and she was wearing an apron over a white summer dress. She began serving the wonderful smelling blueberry pancakes to Harry and put some on her own plate as well. When James raised his plate expectantly, Lily merely ignored him and returned the plate to the kitchen counter. At James' indignant 'hey!', everyone laughed merrily.   _

_"Hey Harry, guess what? I got us tickets to the European Quidditch Cup next Sunday, isn't that great? It'll be a men's night out; just you, me, and Sirius." Harry's father beamed and continued in an excited tone. "It's going to be __Spain__ vs. Luxemburg. You know for being such a small country, Luxemburg does have a good team. I mean the way their Chasers cooperate as such a team is spectacular. Especially that woman, Rosa Koerner, she's a good find. You know the Chasers are the most important part of Quidditch." James began the argument raising his eyebrows suggestively at his son._

_"Yeah right, Dad. You and I both know that without the Seeker the game would never end, so the Seeker is the most important part of Quidditch!" Harry answered triumphantly. Lily rolled her eyes at their antics and continued eating her breakfast with an amused glint in her bright emerald eyes._

_"Ah, but you're forgetting who makes all of the goals. Without the Chasers, Quidditch wouldn't even exist; there'd be no point to it!" James argued grinning the whole time._

_Harry opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by his mother's voice. "Well I for one think that the medi-witches are the most important part of Quidditch, because without them, among the two of you, you'd probably set a new record for the most broken bones." Lily said putting her own two cents into the conversation. Harry's mother laughed gleefully out loud at both the men's blushing cheeks and after a moment they joined her as well._

_"Would you like another mint, dear?"_

_"Huh?" Harry asked confused._

_***_

"I said would you like another mint, dear?" the old lady next to him asked, effectively snapping him out of his light sleep.

With a sad sigh, Harry realized it had just been a dream. He politely declined the mint and returned to staring out the window. 

BOOM!

Harry had just been drifting back to sleep, desperate to finish his dream, when he fell out of his seat after hearing the loud noise. With a steady *bump, bump, bump* the bus slowed to a stop. Harry pushed himself back up onto his seat and looked out his window. His eyes widened. _'Shit!'_ Harry thought, and ducked back down.

Outside, about 50 yards from the bus, was the person Harry had least expected to see right about now---Professor Severus Snape. He was dressed in his usual billowing robes and had the biggest scowl set on his face. He was currently making his way toward the bus. 

Looking back to the people around him, Harry saw all of the people on the bus were walking grumpily toward the exit because of the flat tire.

Joining them quickly, Harry pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, and grabbed his backpack from his seat. Trying to blend in was hard considering half the bus consisted of a tour provided by St. Mary's Nursing Home for the elderly. 

When he got off the bus, Harry, trying to hide his panic, noticed Snape was among the crowd now, looking around no doubt for Harry. Making up his mind, Harry ducked down, right as Snape looked his way. He rolled quickly under the bus. _'Shit!'_ Harry thought for the second time in just a few minutes. The bus was fairly large, so Harry was able to crawl around underneath it. He crawled so he was crouching in front of the huge front wheel just as Snape's face lowered to look under the bus. Breathing in deeply so Snape wouldn't hear him, Harry closed his eyes. He didn't want to risk looking around to see that Snape still hadn't left his place from looking under the bus. 

After a minute, Harry figured it should be safe. Knowing he couldn't stay under the bus forever, Harry started crawling on the ground again almost in a fashion similar to the way the military trained their recruits to get through the obstacles set up for them. He reached the other side of the bus that was facing the street and looking around himself, Harry saw with some amount of panic that they were still in the middle of nowhere. In front of him, across the street, was a large field with a few cows grazing lazily. Harry looked both sides, and saw a bright red truck moving slowly in his direction. Right when the truck was about to pass him, Harry made up his mind, and taking a deep breath, he jumped right on the back of it into the huge mound of hay. Burying himself in the hay, Harry sneaked a peek out and saw a grumpy Professor Snape raising his wand to the muggels, no doubt 'obliviating' them. 

Letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, Harry finally managed to relax at least a little. _'So they know I'm gone now.'_ Harry thought. This certainly made things a harder. He had been counting on at least a few days where no one noticed he was missing. That might have given him enough time to run. 

Harry was so exhausted that he didn't notice his eyes slowly drifting shut.

~*~*~*~

~Wake up, Sleepy Head!~ an overly cheerful voice hissed.

Groggily, Harry opened his eyes and spit out the hay that had made its way into his mouth. At hearing the snake laughing, Harry glared at it.

~Sheesh, someone's in a bad mood today.~ the snake stated.

~Yeah, well, you'd be in a bad mood too if you just slept in a mound of hay and have no idea what you're going to do or even where you're going for that matter.~ Harry hissed back scathingly.

~Excuse me, your Royal Highness, but might I remind you, that I have also slept in a 'mound of hay' as you called it, and I also have no idea what we're going to do, as well as where we are going, but you don't hear me complaining, do you?~ the snake hissed back turning away from Harry haughtily only to slip and fall through the gaps in the hay. Hay, apparently, wasn't the best surface to slither on the snake was quick to realize. Quick as lightning, Harry grabbed it so it wouldn't slip further and allowed it to attach itself around his wrist.

~Look, I'm really sorry, you're right.~ Harry responded, sighing. With a triumphant look, the snake rested its head on Harry's wrist. ~Oh, I was thinking.~ Harry started trying to change the subject looking a lot happier. Ignoring the snake's snort and dubious expression, Harry went on, ~Well I was thinking about Hogwarts. Um…remember how I told you about the four Houses? Well I was thinking that Slytherin was founded by Salazar Slytherin and its House animal is the snake. Since we still need to find a name for you, maybe I should name you Salazar. Except that's a little cheesy, so how about I'll just call you Sal?~ Harry finished in happy tone looking at the snake expectantly. 

~Yes, Salazar is a suitable name, much better than Harry at least.~ the newly dubbed 'Sal' answered resting its head once more on Harry's wrist preparing to doze off.

~Good then, Sal it is.~ Harry said and then added under his breath, ~Not to mention your personality certainly resembles a Slytherin.~

After a few minutes of silence Harry remembered something. ~Wait a minute,~ he started in an annoyed tone, ~why did you wake me up anyway?~

~Oh, well I just wanted to tell you that the big red monster stopped moving.~ Sal answered tiredly.

~Huh?~ Harry asked with a quizzical expression on his face.

If snakes were able to roll their eyes, Harry was sure Sal would have done just that. ~You know, we stopped, as in we're not moving anymore.~ Sal answered as if he was trying to explain something complex to a five year old.

Raising an eyebrow, Harry looked around himself and gasped in surprise. The truck really had stopped moving. _'Big monster?'_ Harry shook his head in amusement and decided not to comment and hurt Sal's pride. It seemed like the truck had stopped in front of a place people go to eat. The shabby looking three-story building was badly in need of a new coat of paint and had a wooden sign with the words 'Cherwell Café & Inn' in cursive letters hanging crookedly above the door. Looking down at his watch, Harry noticed with mild surprise that it was a little past five in the afternoon. Harry gingerly got to his feet and ducking, quickly made his way off the truck, grabbing his bag along the way. He reached his arms high above his head and stretched with a groan. He then moved his neck from side to side trying to crack it. _'I guess sleeping in hay isn't very good for your bones.'_ Harry thought, wincing, while wiggling his legs trying to shake off the pins and needles while ignoring Sal's laughter. 

Hefting his backpack over his shoulder, Harry made his way over to the door while Sal curled himself tighter around his wrist under Harry's sweatshirt's sleeve. It wouldn't be very good to walk into the place with an unusual silver and gold snake clearly in view. 

~*~*~*~

Harry threw himself on the bed with a *creak* in return from the bed and a heavy sigh from himself.

After stepping into the café, Harry was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of tobacco and alcohol. Everyone was staring at him strangely, surely seeing a kid in there for the first time in ages. He had calmly walked over to a counter where a chubby surly woman with frizzy black hair put upward into a messy bun, was serving a customer. He had asked for a room and she eyed him suspiciously until he took out his money, whereas her expression softened somewhat. 

Right now, Harry was lying on the uncomfortable bed (_'at least it's more comfortable than hay'_) thinking while trying to ignore the noise from the bar downstairs. He sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day, and thought about the events of the day so far. _'It could have gone worse.'_ Harry reasoned. Besides the run-in with Snape, things could have gone a _lot worse. He was disturbed that they already figured out he was gone. With a scowl on his face, Harry again blamed the damned prophecy that just seemed to love making his life hell. _'...they're still all going to die...'_ The cold little voice in the back of his mind kept repeating that annoying song. With an anguished expression on his face and a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, Harry shook his head, and focused back on his previous train of thoughts. He didn't know how he was supposed to murder someone, even if it was the Dark Lord that had basically ruined his life. He couldn't be a murderer, could he? _'How do you know you have to be a murderer, Potter? A little overconfident, aren't we? How do you know you won't be the one to be murdered?'_ the annoying voice in the back of his mind (that sounded suspiciously like Snape) asked. Pursing his lips in annoyance, Harry refused to think of that possibility. His main priority right now was getting as far away from his friends as possible so they wouldn't have to suffer because of him; he had enough blood on his hands. _

With another sigh, this time a sad one, Harry reached across his bed to the bedside table and turned the light off, closing his eyes and sliding once more into his usual nightmares.

~*~*~*~

Six o'clock had Harry Potter, the famous Boy-Who-Lived, leaving the Cherwell Café & Inn and making his way north to only Merlin knows where by a hitched ride he managed to find. 

Half an hour later, a scowling Nymphadora Tonks left the inn with her wand in hand.

**Facade1** - Woah you reviewed like less than 3 minutes after I posted! That was wicked, thanx! Of course I took your idea into consideration!! I hope you're not disappointed by my choice in the snake's name. Thanx for your awesome comments and keep them up!

**FireCracker2000** - Thanx for reviewing all of the chapters so far! Yes! I've found a fellow obsessee_ (i know that's not a word, but oh well...it is now)_! I'm obsessed w/ Sirius too (as you can probably tell from my name...lol) PoA is my fave book too, and I was honored you compared the beginning at least a little bit to it. I've thought briefly about naming the snake Sirius but i dismissed the idea quickly...the snake is just nothing like him. Hope you're not disappointed.  Thanks again!

**Myra** - Thank you so much for your review and your suggestion. Your snake's name is Salardeficimonsretunansin?? Wow....lol...how in the world did you come up w/ that, not to mention pronounce it? Well I solved my name problem a few nights ago while i was in the shower...lol...that's the best place to think sometimes...well anyway, I hope it doesn't look like i copied you or anything. Thanks again!

**JadeLMSkywalker** - Hey! Thanks for reviewing!! Thanks for your complements on the song...everyone thankfully seemed to like it, myself included. It was really fun to come up with. I hope you like the snake's name.

**Celtic55** – Thank you so much!! Those comments made me feel all tingly inside. I really, really appreciate them. I'm a fan of disturbing scenes as well (that sounds terrible…lol), so I'm glad you liked it! Keep up the good reviews!

Okay everyone, next chapter is probably my favorite until now and another long one. It's the kind of chapter that has to be absolutely perfect before posting, so it might take just a tiny bit longer than usual. But knowing me, I'll be too excited about it so I'll wanna post it quickly. lol

Thanks again to everyone that reviewed! You don't know how much the reviews mean to me---honestly!


	6. Explosions, Howlers, and Breakdowns

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1A/N: Thanks everyone for reviewing. Review responses are at the bottom again. 

I changed my mind; this chapter isn't my favorite like I said it would be, but I do like the end. I wanna thank Celtic55 for giving me a confidence boost that I definitely needed. Thanks girl–this chapter goes out to you! Everyone go check out her story! Here's the next chapter:

Chapter 6: Explosions, Howlers, and Breakdowns

Harry Potter was currently sitting in the front seat of a large blue truck staring out the window at all of the pine trees passing by. Scrunching up his nose in a disgusted manner, he tried to ignore the wet leathery nose pressed up against his cheek and moved over slightly so he was squeezed against the door. His backpack was currently in between him and the large, slobbery, and wrinkly dog that sat next to him. Next to the dog sat a large, slobbery, and wrinkly man. _'Guess the old saying about the owners being like their dogs is true.'_ Harry thought amusingly. The radio was blaring on a country station at the moment, and they were driving northwest on a narrow motorway. 

Harry had managed to find a ride with a truck driver and his beloved dog. Much like the woman at the Cherwell Café & Inn, the truck driver looked at Harry like he was crazy until he pulled out some money. As far as he could tell, the driver had a bittersweet personality. He was a bitter and angry man but could make jokes and knew humor as well as the next guy—although most of the time when he did or said something funny, it seemed like he was serious, so Harry tried to keep his laughter down so he wouldn't insult him. 

They were just driving through a town, and Harry was staring at the houses on the side of the road. This was definitely the residential area of the town. The houses were very pretty and made out of brick. Some were gray, while others were earth tones, and Harry even saw a green brick house. This was nothing like Privet Drive; there were kids happily playing on the sidewalk and there were no fences separating the lawns. Harry was just admiring the beautiful gardens of each house when he jumped a foot in the air.

WOOF!

Looking to the dog, that seemed to be a bloodhound, he saw that he was sniffing Harry's backpack while wagging his tail excitedly and barking. It was actually rather comical to see, because there didn't seem to be enough room for the poor dog to wag his tail. It looked like he was doing some kind of butt-jig. And while 'shaking his booty', the dog's overabundance of skin was wiggling around making little waves. 

"Butch! Be quiet boy!" the driver yelled while turning down his music a little. But 'Butch' kept barking and wagging his tail digging his snout into Harry's backpack excitedly. A hiss could be heard and then 'Butch' made a noise that sounded like a half-cry and half-bark. 'Butch' recoiled against his master and put his tail between his legs.

"What the hell is the matter with—Ahhhhhhh!!" Butch's owner had just looked toward Harry's backpack where Sal was just crawling out to get onto Harry's lap. The truck driver jumped and he accidentally turned the steering wheel so they almost crashed into a light post until at the last second, he managed to avoid it. _'Yup, definitely like dog, like owner.'_ Harry thought mentally laughing. On the outside though, he faked a concerned expression.

"Oh mister, are you okay? Don't worry it's only my snake, it won't hurt you. I promise!"  Harry added when the driver turned dark eyes to Harry.

"Are you sure? It scared poor Butch, and it nearly made me piss my trousers." the driver said seriously almost in a scared tone which just set off more internal laughter and made it _very_ hard to hide a smile. "Speaking of which..." the driver mumbled distractedly. He was pulling the truck up to a rest area and parked it in the parking lot. Getting the hint, Harry opened the door and grabbed his backpack while Sal curled himself around Harry's wrist.

~*~*~*~

It was about ten minutes later that Harry finished washing his hands. The bathroom was barely larger than Harry's old cupboard back at Privet Drive. It was very dirty and had spider webs all over the place. There was a sink with a cracked mirror above it. It only had one toilet so he had to wait for the truck driver to finish his business before going in. While waiting, Harry had gone into the tiny supermarket next to the rest area and bought some food. The supermarket only sold essentials like milk and bread, but that was enough for Harry. He saw the driver and 'Butch' on the way out of the little supermarket and the driver had told him that he would wait in the truck for him while Butch barked in agreement wagging his tail excitedly at seeing his new friend Harry.

BOOOOOOM!!!

Harry had just stepped out of the bathroom and was going to go looking for Sal, who was busy finding some food for himself, when he was violently pushed backwards at least ten feet by a very strong invisible force. Harry covered his head instinctively. It was burning hot all around him and after a few minutes Harry risked looking up cautiously. There was debris everywhere—sharp metal that looked like it was melted on the corners, shattered glass, and even charred wood. It was all on fire; the flames were chocking him and he coughed violently.  Seeing that it was relatively safe as long as he didn't step on anything, Harry removed the hands off his head but began coughing again. Harry jumped a little when he noticed a large piece of sharp metal dug dangerously into the ground just mere inches next to where his neck was. If he had been thrown just a little bit to the left, he surely could have joined the Headless Hunt. Harry was about to get up, when he caught sight of a series of things that made his heart jump. First, where the truck used to stand, there was just a burning mass of metal; that was the thing that had exploded. Before he had time to think about it though, Harry saw what was behind the burning mass. At least ten masked men wearing long, black robes  were standing there just watching the remains of the truck burn. 

Death Eaters. 

Doing some quick thinking, Harry opened his backpack, got out his Invisibility Cloak, and wrapped it around himself. _'Bloody hell!__ I forgot about Sal!'_ Harry thought with some amount of panic. The roaring fire was still crackling and Harry could faintly hear sirens, so there was little to no danger of being heard. Harry began walking around the various rubble, some of which consisted of glass and other dangerous sharp objects, while hissing Sal's name. Harry could hear his name being hissed too, and just followed that sound. The hissing was coming from under a rounded piece of metal, and lifting it up, relief flooded him as he saw his friend sitting there coiled around almost in a defensive ball.

~Are you alright, Sal?~ Harry asked the snake.

~Harry?~ asked the snake confused. 

~Yeah?~ answered Harry equally as confused. _'Duh!__ You still have the Invisibility Cloak on, you __Moron__.'_ Harry thought to himself. He could have smacked himself, but instead he just took his hand out of his cloak and held it out to Sal. Sal hesitantly uncoiled himself and climbed on his hand and Harry pulled it back inside the cloak. ~Are you sure you're alright, Sal?~ Harry asked when the snake could see his master clearly. After receiving the affirmative, Harry looked back to the truck–or rather, what used to be a truck. The Dark Mark was floating lazily above it in its sickly green color. The snake that was coming out of the skull's mouth looked almost alive as the wind sent gentle ripples through the mark.

Harry started walking toward the town that lay ahead of the rest stop making sure not to get in the way of any of the Death Eaters. He saw something shiny on the ground ahead and bent over to pick it up. Harry stared sadly at the circular dog tag that said 'BUTCH' on the front of it. Dropping it, Harry walked faster toward the little town ahead with new resolve.

~*~*~*~

**"HARRY POTTER!"**

Those were the first two words that greeted Harry. After about an hour of walking, Harry and Sal made it to a nice little town named Admaston upon which they directly went to a motel on the edge of town. Harry had gotten a room and opened the window to let some fresh air in, and gone to take a bath. He was terribly filthy and numerous cuts littered his body. His body ached a lot from earlier and one hour of walking rather quickly didn't help at all. He had filled the tub up with hot water and relaxed inside of it. Sal had found his way inside the bathroom, and the two of them had an enjoyable conversation, carefully and purposely avoiding the subject of the explosion. After a long time, when the water had long since turned cold, Harry reluctantly got out of the bath tub. When Harry had walked back to the main bedroom, he was surprised to see an owl waiting patiently with an envelope clutched in its beak. 

A red envelope.

Smoke had been coming out of the cracks in the envelope, and with a screech, the owl had dropped it and flew right back out the window.

BOOM!

Before Harry had a chance to move, the Howler had burst open and a loud voice Harry recognized as Mrs. Weasley filled the room. 

"**HARRY POTTER!** WHERE IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU?!?"

Harry winced.

"WE'VE GOT THE WHOLE ORDER SEARCHING NIGHT AND DAY FOR YOU!!! THEY'RE EVEN LOOKING IN BLOODY WALES FOR YOU–"

_'Oh, you don't know how close they are._' Harry thought with a grimace on his face.

"WE DEMAND YOU COME HOME THIS INSTANCE!!! THE WHOLE FAMILY'S WORRIED OUT OF THEIR MINDS!!! YOU COULD BE ATTACKED BY DEATH EATERS AT ANY MOMENT AND YOU WOULDN'T EVEN BE ABLE TO DEFEND YOURSELF!!!–"

_'That shows how much faith the lot of you have in me.'_ Harry thought somewhat bitterly.

"I'M GOING TO SAY THIS ONE LAST TIME, YOUNG MAN, YOU COME BACK RIGHT NOW OR TELLS US WHERE YOU ARE!!–"

Harry snorted at that. _'Not bloody likely.'_

"Oh and Harry dear, please make sure you're eating right. Last time I saw you, you were all skin and bones." the Howler continued in a much gentler tone until it burst into flame and the ashes landed on Harry's feet.

"Well that was...interesting." Harry said out loud.  

After a few moments of silence, Harry turned to his friend. ~Hey Sal? Do you think we should leave? Maybe we're too close to where the Death Eaters were. I mean, Order members could come find us at any mo–~ Harry was interrupted by a knock on the door. His eyes widened and he looked to Sal beckoning him toward his wrist. There was another knock and Harry quickly gathered his things and covered himself with the Invisibility Cloak. He was just climbing out the window when a voice froze him in mid step. "Nice try, Harry." a voice chuckled but with no trace of humor in their voice. Turning around still covered in the Invisibility Cloak, Harry saw Professor Dumbledore standing there calmly staring right at him. He stood in the middle of the room wearing long flowing purple robes that looked blue when he moved just a tiny bit. "Sit down, Harry." Professor Dumbledore said calmly. Harry remained standing. "I'm not asking you whether you would like to sit, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said, still calmly but with a hard tone. Harry widened his eyes and took a seat on the bed while taking the cloak off. Dumbledore meanwhile had swiftly sat down on a chair that sat opposite the bed. They were both silent for a long time, just staring into each other's eyes. Harry was the first to break the gaze with a painful expression. Dumbledore's eyes were still twinkling but they held a hard expression. The two  bright blue orbs painfully reminded Harry of his dreams and those same blue eyes staring back at him in an accusatory manner.

Dumbledore was the first to speak. "Mr. Potter, what you've done was very selfish of you." he started bluntly. Harry's mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief. Dumbledore had never talked to him like this. Dumbledore continued in a cold tone that was nothing like the usual gentle tone he used. "Have you forgotten your mother's sacrifice so soon? She gave her _life_ to save you, Harry, and how do you repay her? By running away when you knew you could be killed by Death Eaters at any moment. I thought I explained the protection your aunt offers you clearly enough."

Harry's mouth was still hanging open when he seemed to slide back to reality. With an audible *click*, Harry's mouth snapped shut and he made an angry sound of disbelief in the back of his throat. 

Anger. 

Anger was the only thing Harry knew at the moment. He jumped off the bed and whirled on Dumbledore. "You think I'm being selfish? SELFISH? Are you serious?" Harry asked angrily. He paused and then added, not caring whether he was being disrespectful, a laugh of disbelief clearly evident in his voice, "I think you've finally gone insane, Professor." 

Seeing Dumbledore open his mouth, Harry narrowed his eyes and continued in a cold tone before Dumbledore could say anything. "Now you listen here Professor Dumbledore. You think I'm being selfish? _Selfish?_ You think I enjoy running away? You think I actually wanted to never return to Hogwarts—the only place I could ever call home because my relatives detest me and treat me like their personal house elf. Might I remind you, Professor, that _you_ were the one that placed me there. Of course I understood about the bloody 'protection'." Harry's tone was one of mocking when he talked about Privet Drive. He continued again in a cold tone that was filled with disbelief. "The only reason I left was so I could protect _you_! All of you! You think I like seeing your dull and accusing eyes staring at me every time I close my eyes?" 

Ignoring Dumbledore's clearly visible confusion Harry continued in a not so composed fashion. "And why in Merlin's name are _you_ lecturing _me_ on my mother's sacrifice? You're actually willing to question if I _remember_? Of course I know what she did for me. Every time I look in a mirror, this bloody scar reminds me Professor." While talking—or more like, while _yelling_, Harry gestured vaguely toward his forehead to where his scar was. 

"Gods Professor," Harry continued, "every time I close my eyes, I see her pleading for mer–" Harry's voice broke. He was only mildly aware that a few tears had managed to escape his eyes and were now streaming down his face. He cleared his throat and tried again, "I see her pleading—begging for mercy for _me_, Professor." 

After a few minutes of silence, out of seemingly no where, Harry began to laugh loudly in a maniacal way. He laughed for minutes under Dumbledore's concerned gaze until abruptly stopping as if he had never made a sound to begin with. 

"Professor Dumbledore," Harry began speaking again in an eerily calm and quiet voice that scared Professor Dumbledore more than any volume of screaming ever could, "You are the last person that has a right to remind me of my mother's sacrifice." Harry paused before continuing again, "If anyone knows about Voldemort's works and victims—it's me. I _know_ my mother gave her life for me—a tiny little infant, when she had her whole life ahead of her. I _know_ my father died because he was being a noble man and protecting his family. I _know_ Sirius died because he was trying to do his duty and protect his godson. I _know_ Cedric Diggory died because I was _not_ too _selfish_ to take the cup by myself. So you, Professor, have no right whatsoever to call me selfish and accuse me of forgetting their sacrifices." Harry finished in a voice that was beyond angry with never-ending tears streaming down his face.

He had gotten out all of the pent up frustration he'd had the whole summer. He'd spoken for every life that had been innocently taken by Lord Voldemort. He had cried for every dead face he'd seen in the Great Hall. He'd screamed for every barrier the Gods decided to throw at his young life.

Harry felt sick after his little rant. His head felt like it was being inflated and was about to float away. He saw black and white splotches swimming around him and was only dimly aware that he was swaying in an alarming way. The last thing Harry saw was Dumbledore's sad and concerned form making his way toward him before Harry's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he finally gave into the darkness that had been threatening to strangle him.

A/N: I hope you guys weren't disappointed that Harry wasn't gone for longer. I know I kinda was, but that was the only way the fic would work. I'm thinking about, when I finish the fic, i might write a second version, where Harry's gone for possibly the whole year, what do you think? It was pretty weird, like two ppl told me they wanted him to go to LA. What's up w/ LA?? Not that it's a bad city or anything, but why LA? Oh well, if I do write the second version (mind you, this fic is going to be really long so don't count on seeing a second version anytime soon), I'll try to keep LA in mind...lol ;-)

I hope you guys liked this chapter. Make sure to let me know why or why not, okay?

Facade1- Don't worry your review was still first  ;-) ...You were entertained by school? omg...I didn't think that was possible. lol...j/k. Thanks again, and keep up those good reviews!

Dakine - LA, huh? Sorry about that. Thanks for reviewing and keep it up.

FroBoy - Is this soon enough? I hope so. Thanks for reviewing.

sze - LA, you too, huh? Sorry. Maybe next story.  ;-) Thanks and please review again!

HavenKane - Thank you so much for reviewing all of the chapters! I doubt that they have Power Ranger pj's also, but hey, poor Dudley can have them if he wants them in this fic. lol

I love the song too. Yeah, about the running thing, the only thing I can say is that he was panicking and desperate to do something. 

Yes Snakey finally has a name...lol...I wouldn't be surprised if everyone called him 'Snakey' for a while...that's what I get for naming him so late. ;-)

Of course, I'll return the favor. All you have to do is update your stories!!! ;-) Thanks again and keep up the reviews.

Angelic_devil - Thank you so much! Those comments totally made my day! They made me feel all tingly inside and everything! I'm glad I got Harry just right! Thanks for the compliment on my name. I like yours too—it's sort of an oxymoron, isn't it? lol...Keep up the good reviews and thanks again!

jen c - Thanks!! The song was so fun to make! In fact, I loved making it so much that I started on another song—of course the Sorting Hat song! I finished it and it was so much fun to make!! I can't wait till you guys get to see it, but I'm not sure when Hogwarts will be...probably in a few chapters. Maybe I'll pursue a career as a songwriter or something...yeah right! Wouldn't that be the day? I already know what I'm gonna do, and it's got nothing to do w/ music.

Yeah Harry only knew about Snape to answer your question.

JadeLMSkywalker - Thanks! Wow, 4 nieces and 1 nephew? All from the same sister, or different ones? Wow...congrats again! Thanks again for the review!

**Alan** - Thank you so much!! As for how many chapters the fic will have, I'm sorry to say that I have no idea. All I know is that I have _a lot_ of plans for it; so it should be relatively long. There will probably be a sequel to it as well. Harry will go back to Hogwarts in a few chapters so that was about 20,000 words for just the summer. Thank you again for reviewing, and a _fan_, huh? Wow, you're officially my first fan! That's awesome, thanks! Keep up the reviews, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Andrew - You dumbass!!!! _(Ok, in case anyone besides andrew is reading this, please note that andrew is my brother, so I'm not yelling at one of you lovely reviewers)_ You left a whole bunch of double reviews!Thanks though, I appreciate the effort, Andrew. It was probably an accident anyway right? If you're doing it on purpose, then KNOCK IT OFF! Thanks again Dandy. ;-)

Thank you so much for reviewing, I really appreciate it!! Keep reviewing, please? You guys can help me reach 50 reviews w/ this chapter. Please?

Also, do you guys want me to e-mail you when I update? I'll sure be glad to. Just put down your e-mail address if you do. Thanks again.


	7. Hugs, Slugs, and Shrugs

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1A/N's: I'm so sorry for the delay on this chapter. I took a week to update...arghhh...that's terrible!! I'm sorry; I have no excuse. I've made this chapter extra long to make up for it! It's more of a transitional chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway.

Chapter 7: Hugs, Slugs, and Shrugs

Harry Potter opened his eyes sleepily, but abruptly closed them again when he was blinded by the bright sun light filtering through the windows. A voice nearby chuckled and presumably closed the blinds for Harry could no longer see any light through his eyelids. Harry cautiously opened his eyes and was faced with Remus Lupin's smiling face. Harry groaned at Remus's exuberance, and rolled over so he was lying on his stomach and pulled his pillow over his head. Remus chuckled warmly again while Harry just groaned once more. His head was pounding and the tiniest of noise made it hurt even more, as if he were having a hangover. His whole body ached and the numerous cuts spread across it were stinging. 

The day—or was it the previous day?—came back to him full force. He blushed under the pillow remembering what he said—or screamed, to Professor Dumbledore. But the flush was erased and replaced by anger about thinking of what Dumbledore accused him of. Dumbledore had said last year that he knows him better than Harry thinks, but if that were true, why would Dumbledore ever _think_, or have _any_ doubt, that Harry didn't understand or remember what his mother's sacrifice did for him? How could Harry _ever_ forget something like that? He wasn't actually angry or embarrassed anymore at this point, but rather he was seriously hurt. 

Someone cleared their throat loudly nearby and Harry jumped. He had forgotten about Remus. In his letters in the summer, Professor Lupin insisted Harry call him Remus as he wasn't and hadn't been his professor for a while now. Harry turned his head and lifted the pillow slightly so that his head was still covered but he was still able to see Remus through the crack.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Remus said cheerfully. "Or should I say good afternoon, you almost slept the whole day away, you must have been so exhausted." Harry just groaned again in return and mumbled something incoherent back. "What was that, Harry?" Remus asked still smiling.

"I said 'good afternoon'." Harry answered annoyed while sitting up with a resigned sigh; obviously he wasn't going to be able to escape Remus' questions and whatnot. Harry was staring down at the blanket with an almost childlike pout on his face. He was really annoyed at being here—wherever here was, since he didn't recognize it, which brought him out of his reverie and he reluctantly faced Remus again—curiosity won over. "Where am I?"

Remus still had a big smile on his face which just annoyed Harry further and answered simply, "We're in your room." 

"Um...excuse me?"

"Well Dumbledore brought you here yesterday after...well I don't actually know what happened." Remus started and Harry flushed bright red while looking back down to his lap. At least no one knew exactly what had happened for which Harry was grateful. Before he could dwell on it further though, Remus began talking again. "This," Remus vaguely motioned around himself with his hands, "is your room." 

Comprehension dawned on him."But where's Ron's bed? And where did those chairs come from." Harry asked confused pointing at the comfortable looking pair of armchairs in the corner. True, he hadn't been at Grimmauld Place since Christmas at least, but he didn't think one room could change this much. Which just brought him to more confusion. He furrowed his brow and asked, "Wait a second, this looks way too different; it can't be our room."

Remus chuckled and answered in a jovial tone, "Oh this isn't your old room, this is your new room. Molly and the kids have been working on it for a while now. When you're not at the Dursley's," at the mention of the Dursley's, Remus' features hardened slightly, "you'll stay right here. In your brand new bedroom."

Harry still looked slightly confused. _'**His** room?'_ He looked around himself with a frown on his face. Remus unfortunately mistook his expression and immediately asked, "Don't you like it?"

Still looking around the room, Harry missed the slightly hurt look on Remus' face. It was gone in a flash as Harry looked back to Remus. "Hmm? Oh no, it's not that, it's great. It's just..." Harry hesitated a moment as if he was trying to find the words to say something. In the end, he settled for just a simple and blunt "Why?" Remus looked confused so Harry tried to elaborate. "I mean, is this really _my_ room?" Remus nodded happily at this but Harry's frown just deepened. "Why would I get my own room at Grimmauld Place?" Harry asked again. 

Remus still looked confused for a moment, but then realization clearly dawned on him. "Oh Harry," he started sadly, almost sympathetically, "hasn't anyone told you?" 

_'Okay this is just getting more and more confusing. Told me what?'_ Harry thought, but instead just asked "Huh?"

Remus uncharacteristically bit his bottom lip for a moment. "Well, Harry this is your house." he just stated bluntly.

"WHAT?" Harry asked a little too loudly. _'What the hell is going on?' _he thought disbelievingly.

"I can't believe no one's told him." Remus mumbled to himself almost too quietly for Harry to hear. He took a deep breath and stated, "Harry, Sirius left this house to you. You're the owner and until you become of age, Dumbledore will take care of the house as per Sirius' wishes." Before Harry could say anything else, Remus hastily got up and glided the chair he was sitting on back so it sat in front of the desk in the corner. "Look Harry, you probably want some time to yourself. Why don't you have a look around the room, get dressed in some new clothes, and come downstairs for something to eat? Ron and Hermione have been dying to see you." And with that, Remus Lupin departed from the room before Harry could get any words in himself.

Harry was just sitting there against the headboard of the bed staring straight ahead. Should he be sad and cry? Or maybe he should be angry and scream and yell? Or perhaps he should be happy? He honestly didn't know what he was supposed to feel. Why would Sirius leave Grimmauld Place to him? _'Duh!__ You're his godson, you dolt!'_ his inner voice told himself. 

Knitting his eyebrows together, Harry just shook his head and decided to get up to have a closer look around. He swung his legs over the bed, and stood up. _'Ouch!'_ Harry winced clamping his left hand over his head. He still had a massive headache. When it at least faded a little bit, he gingerly began to look around. The room really was beautiful. The walls were painted in classic white, with a gold trim at the corner between the ceiling and the wall. In the far corner opposite him and the bed, was a beautiful stone fireplace where a large, warm fire was currently roaring with an oak coffee table and two very comfortable looking armchairs in front of it. A bookcase stood on one side of the fireplace, while a large window stood on the other. Next to the large window, an oak desk with a chair in front of it resided, and still next to that, another window. The windows were currently covered in heavy velvet curtains. The rooms colors seemed to be a shade of beautiful dark emerald green and gold; the curtains, the hangings around the bed, the bed sheets, and the armchairs were all done in these colors. All of the things that were made out of wood were a beautiful dark oak. All in all, the room was very handsome in a masculine way. It beat his tiny bedroom at the Dursley's any day.

_The Dursley's._

His heart dropped a foot at that name. _'Dammit'_ Harry thought furiously, _'it wasn't supposed to be like this!'_ Now he would have to go back to living with his retched relatives at Privet Drive.

He was brought out of his thoughts by faint laughter from somewhere below him and he froze when recognized it as Ron's blithe laughter. Harry angrily clenched his jaw. None of this was supposed to happen. He was supposed to be somewhere like America or Africa where no one would find him and Ron and Hermione and his other friends would be safe. He wasn't supposed to be here at Grimmauld Place where everyone was in danger because of him, or go back to Hogwarts where Voldemort could come and kill all of his friends at any moment. _'Don't forget about yourself. Remember that little song, 'Oh, Potter, you rotter, you can't escape, He's going to kill you, it's your predestined fate.''_ His inner voice teased. 

It all went back to that stupid prophecy.

Deciding he had enough depressing thoughts for the day so far, he walked towards a door next to the bed that he presumed was the closet. Harry opened it up and his mouth promptly fell open. He had been right, it was a closet. Shelves were stacked on the right side of the closet. Upon the shelves, were an arrangement of different colored shorts and slacks, short sleeved shirts, long sleeved shirts, jumpers, and anything else anyone could need. Next to the shelves, long flowing robes of every color and material were hung and underneath, below the robes, drawers resided, surely for underwear, socks, and the like. Harry still stood there just staring for a few minutes until his stomach growled loudly. Harry grimaced and patted his stomach. He couldn't even remember the last time he ate. _'That's definitely not a good sign.'_ Harry thought dejectedly to himself.

~*~*~*~

Half and hour later had one Harry Potter standing outside of the heavy kitchen door of the Order of the Phoenix headquarters at Grimmauld Place. He had taken a quick shower and dressed in slightly baggy (thankfully not Dudley-style baggy) dark blue jeans and a simple green t-shirt that Mrs. Weasley was sure to comment on 'how it brings his beautiful eyes out'. He felt sort of weird about dressing in those clothes, but Remus did say they were his. It had taken Harry a little while to find the kitchen from his room. Upon exiting his room, Harry found himself in a hallway he had never seen before. It turned out that Grimmauld Place was pretty large, and obviously charmed. Eventually he found the main staircase and from there the way to the basement kitchen where he assumed everyone was.

Right now, Harry was standing outside of the kitchen door listening to the cheerful talking and joy filled laughter from within. He was nervous about going inside; he wasn't sure what to expect. He was really confused right now and had no idea how to act. He was spared from further thoughts when the door banged opened with a bang and Harry jumped in surprise.

  


"Harry!!" someone yelled excitedly and his vision was obscured by a mane of bushy brown hair. Before he had any time to react to the fierce hug, he was pushed away so he stood an arms length away from Hermione and was, very unexpectedly, slapped _hard_ across his cheek. "WHAT IN BLOODY HELL WERE YOU THINKING, SCARING US LIKE THAT??" Harry just stood there staring at Hermione's face dumbly trying to ignore the sharp sting on his cheek, when she abruptly grabbed Harry's shoulders and crushed him in another hug. Over her head, Harry saw Ron and Ginny sitting around the kitchen table. Ron gave him a shrug and rolled his eyes as if to say _'Girls'_. Ginny was giving him a feeble smile, and her eyes were twinkling in a very Dumbledore-ish way. He was now uncomfortably aware that his shoulder was starting to get wet. Looking down alarmed, Harry saw Hermione's shoulders shaking, confirming that she was indeed crying. Harry panicked; he didn't have the best experience with girls crying and Hermione just wasn't the crying type. He put his arms around her, participating in the hug, and awkwardly patted the top of her head for a lack of something else to do. 

She pulled away from him and her cheeks visibly reddened. "Oh Harry, we were so worried." She wiped her eyes and fussed over him in a manner reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley, beckoning him to sit down, and preparing him something to eat. 

"Yeah mate, Mum almost had kittens. The whole Order was gone all day looking all over for you." Ron chided playfully. Harry was now squirming uncomfortably in his seat. He didn't want to explain to his friends why he had run away.

In an obvious effort to change the subject, Harry asked, "Where is everyone anyway?" 

"Dunno. They've been gone a lot lately. We don't really know where they go all the time." Ginny answered while Ron nodded in agreement. 

They settled into an uncomfortably long silence until they heard the far away noise of a door banging open and cheerful chatter getting louder and louder. The door opened and Mad-Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks filed into the kitchen followed closely by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Upon seeing him, Mrs. Weasley rushed over and engulfed him in a giant bear hug, and then went over to help Hermione with preparing dinner. Remus and Mr. Weasley greeted him in a friendly way, and Moody was openly glaring at him, and surprisingly, the usually cheerful Tonks was looking at him in not such a happy fashion. Harry was taken aback by this. Looking towards his best friend to see his reaction to this, Harry noticed his eyes were roaming around looking anywhere but him, and in the end just settled to stare at the table. Harry knitted his eyebrows in confusion. He looked around and noticed everyone (but Ron) was staring at him, obviously expecting him to say something, probably expecting an explanation for his earlier actions. Not wanting to discuss it, Harry got up and hastily made his way over to help Hermione and Mrs. Weasley prepare dinner.

~*~*~*~

Dinner was a tense affair. Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, Remus, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting around the table eating their meal of chicken and potatoes. In the beginning, everyone had tried to engage Harry in conversation, and even when it became obvious he didn't want to talk about what happened, they tried talking about something else. _Anything_ else. The variety of topics would have been quite comical, had Harry been in the mood to laugh. Harry was still peeved at being here, so he either ignored them altogether and stayed out of the conversation, or answered their questions with simple one word answers. After a while, everyone just gave up on their half-hearted attempts at starting conversation, and the table lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

Harry was stabbing at his food angrily, and just pushing it around his plate. Even though he was starving, he didn't feel like eating. It seemed like such a mundane thing to do. He was hungry but had no appetite. There was no point to eating anyway, besides the obvious. 

The silence was deafening, until Harry suddenly remembered something important.

"SAL!!" he yelled out in a panic. Everyone around the table jumped a foot into the air, and some put their hands over their hearts obviously to slow down the frantic beating, and Ginny even let out a scream of surprise at the sudden noise, which in turn just set off Hermione. When no one noticed anything amiss, they looked toward Harry, who was instinctively checking around his wrist, and was scrambling out of his seat. Would Harry not have been preoccupied with other thoughts, he would have seen everyone exchange worried glances and stare at Harry as though seriously doubting his sanity. When he ran out of the kitchen, everyone followed worriedly trying to catch up to the speeding bullet. 

Harry ran around the last corner until he reached his bedroom door. It still felt weird to say—or even think that this was _his_ bedroom. Until he was eleven he didn't even have a bedroom, but this was not the time to think about that. His mind was close to panic. He didn't know what had happened to Sal. Dumbledore most likely didn't know about him, so he could have been left at the hotel. He didn't want to think of that prospect, but was already thinking of all of the options for a rescue mission. 

Upon entering his room, with a breathless bunch in tow, Harry started calling his name. "Sal?...Sal, where are you?...C'mon Sal, where did you go?" All of the people crowded around the entrance of Harry's room, exchanged another worried look. Mrs. Weasley was disputing whether or not to admit Harry to St. Mungos. It was obvious Hagrid didn't tell anyone about the gift he gave Harry. 

"Oh thank Merlin!" Harry exclaimed and rushed over to his backpack that was sitting on one of the armchairs where a silver and gold snake could be seen slithering off of. It seemed everyone else had noticed the snake as well, for Mrs. Weasley let out a scream, Ginny 'oooh'ed' and Ron exclaimed "Wicked!". They were just making their way over to get a closer look when they all froze in their tracks upon hearing the hissing coming out of Harry's mouth.

~Sal! Are you okay?~ Harry asked his friend worriedly oblivious to everyone's expression.

~Oh Harry, it's you. I was wondering when you were coming to get me; took you long enough. Oh yeah, I'm just _fine_, considering I've been stuck inside of a backpack for over a whole day.~ Sal answered sarcastically. Harry just rolled his eyes at the snake; he was used to the snake's sarcastic nature. He had grown quite attached to it over the last couple of weeks. There was no one else with an IQ over 50 at number four Privet Drive whom he could have intelligent conversation with. ~Hey Harry, who's that?~ the snake asked flicking its little head to the side towards the little group assembled in his room. 

~Hmmm?~ Harry turned around and noticed everyone for seemingly the first time. ~Oh those are just my friends.~ Harry noticed their slack jawed expressions and knitted his brow in concern, "Guys, what's the matter?" Harry asked the group. Ron was the first to snap out of it and answered Harry.

"Umm mate, that's really creepy." he said and shuddered to emphasize his point. Harry just looked at him confused. He had no idea what he was talking about. Ron seemed to pick up on that so he did a very bad imitation of what was supposed to be Parseltongue. Harry laughed at the poor imitation and just rolled his eyes. That seemed to snap everyone out of their reverie and they all gave a nervous laugh. 

"Guys, this is Sal." Harry introduced. ~Sal, this is Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Moody, Remus, and Tonks.~ Harry told the snake pointing to each in turn. Everyone still looked a little uneasy at the hissing coming out of Harry's mouth, but Ginny broke the ice by coming up to the snake and looking at it admirably. 

"Where'd you get it, Harry?" Hermione asked with interest while observing the snake. 

Harry grinned. "Hagrid gave him to me for my birthday."

"Ooh, Harry this isn't a normal snake. It's magical! It's called an Evanidus Anguis. They're fascinating creatures; I've read all about them." _'Surprise, surprise'_ Harry rolled his eyes at this, but luckily Hermione didn't notice. She was busy examining Sal (who was getting really annoyed at continuously being referred to as an object) "Wow...they're really rare. And they're really loyal too if they trust you." Hermione went on. She squeaked remembering something, "Ooh Harry they're really venomous. Their bite is unlike any other. It's really terrible, their venom kills you slowly by eating away all of your organs until only the heart is left. Then they eat your flesh and skin, but the worst part is that you're still alive and your heart keeps beating. Eventually all that's left is the beating heart." At hearing this, everyone turned pale and they recoiled away from Sal and Harry. Harry had to admit, even he was a little shaken at hearing this.

~Sal, does your bite really do that?~ Harry asked his companion in a slightly wavering hiss.

~Don't be silly!~ Sal hissed back and Harry visibly relaxed and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He gave a feeble smile and a thumbs up to everyone that was looking at him expectantly, but Sal went on, ~Our venom eats away the heart eventually too.~ 

~*~*~*~

Lying in _his_ bed at night, with Sal coiled around himself on the side of Harry's huge bed, Harry was thinking about the day. It had been rather weird. He was still exhausted, although his massive headache thankfully faded to a dull stitch. Mrs. Weasley had insisted on healing his cuts on his body, albeit Harry's protests. 

He had at least discovered some more about Sal. It turned out that besides his....erm, _interesting_ talent of killing people slowly and painfully, he could also vanish at will. They could also live for a very long time. Sal told him he was very young still, practically a toddler—only 25 years old. Of course when Sal mentioned this, Harry gawked at him. Also, supposedly the number of gold stripes they had indicated how powerful they were. Sal confirmed this and proudly told Harry he had a total of twelve, which was supposed to be very powerful. Hermione was so excited about learning all of this new information, as well as confirming and rejecting previous information about Evanidus Anguis', that she suggested Harry write a book about them. Supposedly it would be 'helping humankind by offering information'. Of course, Harry and Ron just rolled their eyes in unison to this.

Yes, it seemed everything was almost back to normal. Almost—but not quite. Harry was still mad at being at headquarters. He was distant towards his friends and even uncharacteristically rude at times. He didn't want to endanger his friends and everyone at Hogwarts with his presence. It would have been so much easier for everyone if he was somewhere far away. _'Ah, but didn't Dumbledore once say that you have to choose between what is right and what is easy?'_ his inner voice that sounded like Hermione asked. At this, Harry's other inner voice that sounded just like Ron put his own two cents into the conversation. _'Yeah, but Dumbledore's an old quack, everyone knows that.'_ 'Hermione' stayed oddly silent after this and didn't say anything in return to that. Harry grinned and mentally high-five'ed his 'Ron' voice in his head, and drifted off to sleep with a trace of a faint smile on his face.

Note: **_Evanidus_****_ Anguis — Vanishing Snake (Latin)_**

~~~

**portected** - Thank you! Sorry for the delay.

Facade1 - Thanks for the review! I know you were just kidding about the school thing...lol...I'd be pretty freaked out too if you were serious. Wow...you went from laughing to crying in about two seconds...lol. I know what you mean though about Butch...he was so cool!! He was like my favorite character but he only got about 1/3rd of a chapter of glory! Poor dog...Me and Celtic55 were talking about that on msn the other day too. I told her I was mourning his death. We were just joking around and she suggested someone write a one-shot or even a trilogy (lol) devoted to Butch. lol...I could see it then too: 'Butch—such a happy life came to such a traumatic end. The story of the booty shaking dog.'....lol. Keep up the good reviews!

HavenKane - Yup, that's Mrs. Weasley for you...lol. I agree Dumbledor-ish is the only way to describe Dumbledore...lol. Ah yes, Dumbledore was a little mean, but let's just say, he was _very_ pissed off that Harry ran away, and put himself in danger and basically (in his opinion) wasted the Order's time by making them look for him. As you could see from Mad-Eye and Tonks, the rest of the Order is pretty pissed too. Yes, I enjoyed Harry's little rant, and it definitely was very needed. Poor Harry...I _almost_ feel sorry for torturing him ..._almost_, but not quite....mwuhahaha...I'm very evil, can you tell? Thanks for the awesome review, keep 'em coming!

FroBoy - Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, I hope this one was satisfactory as well. Keep up the reviews.

JadeLMSkywalker - Thanks! You are 100% right about the stories writing themselves. I never realized it until I started writing my own fic. No matter how much I try to do something, the story just writes itself the way it wants to, and if it doesn't, what I've written is usually crap...lol. Thanks for the review! 

Nerwen Faelvirin - Dude, thanks!! lol...I won't change the story too much, at least not my writing style, the story will obviously have to change to progress though...lol. Thanks a lot. I hope you liked this chapter. Please review again!

Raven Dragonclaw - Wow, thank you so much for reviewing my story! This probably sounds corny, but I'm truly honored! You are like my favorite author and your story is also one of my favorite all time fanfics. I'm so glad you liked my fic so far. Yeah I was pretty disappointed myself both that Harry didn't stay away for longer and that Butch and the truck driver died. Which it's kinda weird to be disappointed when I'm the one writing the story...lol...but like JadeLMSkywalker said in her review, the story basically writes itself. I'm glad you asked about how Dumbledore found Harry so fast. I wanted to explain, but there was no way to work it into the story so I'll just do it here. You were pretty close; Harry's howler that Mrs. Weasley sent had a tracking spell on it, plus, the Order members (including Dumbledore) were pretty close by anyway b/c they went to the explosion scene after it happened (that's how Dumbledore got there so fast). I bet it's weird to hear this, but I'm very, very glad Harry reminded you of Tom Riddle. I, personally, feel that Tom Riddle and Harry Potter have a lot of things in common, and I won't go into it in detail here b/c it would take too long to explain, but if just a few things had gone differently in Harry's life, or even if he would have made a few different choices (i.e. the Sorting), he would have probably ended up like Riddle and even vice versa if you think about it. Again, thanks for reviewing, I really appreciate it! Keep it up.

Angelic_devil - *Sigh*, yes you as well as numerous others (including myself) were disappointed that Harry didn't stay away for longer, but like I said, it really couldn't have gone another way. I've said this before, but if I have time, I'm thinking about writing another version where he might be gone for the whole year. Wow, my 'superior judgement'? I'm glad you trust me...lol. About the 'happy and forgiving' thing you wrote in your review, I know exactly what you mean in general, but I don't think that really applies to my fic. Dumbledore and them really didn't do anything wrong, so there's really nothing to forgive. But don't worry, Harry will still be depressed and pissed so they won't 'all hug', as you can see (especially in the end part) Harry is still pissed he's at Grimmauld Place. I agree about Harry being defensive and independent, and I'm so happy to know that you think I wrote him well like that. Keep up the good reviews.

Legend87 - Thanks for reviewing all of my chapters!! Butt jig! I'm glad you like it...lol. Thanks again for reviewing and please review again!

Myra - You're swamped with college? Urghh, that's gotta suck. I can't wait to go to college, but I'm sure I won't like that aspect. What college do you go to? Yeah I like when Harry is pissed with Dumbledore too. I'm glad you liked it, and I'm sorry for the delay in updates. Thanks again, and keep up the good reviews!

angela - You're right, snakes drink water but not tiny little snakes (at least not a whole lot). And Sal is so little (about a foot long) that he doesn't swallow mice yet. Thanks anyway though, I appreciate it. I hope you're liking the story so far. Please review again!

Alan - Excellent! I loved the idea of a snake fight, and I've never thought about it before. Yes, it's Nagini btw. Thanks for the idea, and if I do use it, I'll make sure to thank you in the chapter. Thanks and keep up the great ideas.

mrs-osborne's-class - Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story so far. Sense of humor? Wow, thanks, I didn't think I (or the story) had one. That's a big compliment for me. Thanks again!

Celtic55 - I'd love to read a trilogy on Butch...that would be great...lol! Thanks for going over chapter 6, and all of your comments. I'm so glad you liked the end, I really did as well. I've had just the end written for such a long time (well not really a long time, but way longer than the rest of the chapter), and I couldn't wait to post it. Yeah, there are a lot of emotions conveyed in that part. Harry basically goes from morbid amusement and disbelief, to being angry, to being cold towards Dumbledore, to mocking, to hysterics, to crying and sadness, and so much more. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. 

Lolly Phoenix - Thanks for reviewing...I'm glad you like my story so far. Nope, unfortunately I'm not like you and I have to _write_ more. You'll see Dumbledore's reaction—or like you said, lack thereof, soon.

~~~

Woah, I'll definitely need to cut these review responses short a little. Although I love answering you guys' questions and giving my opinion to things. I hope you guys don't mind them; if you do, just skip over 'em, okay?

Thanks again everyone for reviewing. I'm sorry again for taking so long to post this chapter. 

Please review and let me know if you liked this chapter or not. 

P.S. - I have a floor plan for Harry's room (w/ furniture and stuff) in case anyone would like to see it. It's pretty neat. I can e-mail it to anyone that's interested in seeing it. Just let me know in your review.


	8. Death and Life

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1A/N's: Thank you so much for all of your kind reviews!! I'm getting really addicted to them, they're so wonderful and we're already up to the 80's. That's so wicked! I love you all so much; thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 8: Death and Life__

_Harry Potter absently blew his fringe from his eyes. He was standing in the large room inside of the Department of Mysteries staring at the soft flowing fabric of the veil that killed Sirius. The air was still, almost stale, and it tasted bitter in his mouth. The veil was swaying faintly as if it were being blown by an unseen breeze. The fabric was moving delicately in such an innocent manner totally contradictory to its greater evil purpose. It was revolting and exhilarating at the same time. It was dark and light all together. It described both death and life. It was both atrocious and beautiful. Gentle ripples were cascading throughout the veil making it look like the calm waves of an ocean out in a vast sea of water—innocent but deadly._

_The room was freezing cold and humid but to Harry it felt unbelievably comfortable. It felt like he had fluffy soft blankets wrapped around himself—like he was swimming in soft feathers._

_He could hear the faint voices behind the veil; they were luring him to come forward. The voices were expressed in a soft incoherent whisper, but that just made them all the more enchanting. They were calling him—beckoning him forward. He was only mildly aware that he was moving. His head felt like it was filled with cotton; there was nothing to worry about, no pressure, no obligations, only the beautiful voices calling him forward. It was almost like being on the Imperius Curse. He was still moving forward, as if on wings, as if he were floating. He was weightless. _

_He was almost there—he stretched his fingers to touch the fabric. The fabric flowed between his fingers; his hand was almost engulfed in it. It was so cold, but inviting. Its texture was like that of mercury—like his father's Invisibility Cloak. It engulfed his fingers and hand but it didn't stick. It felt like water but it wasn't wet. The voices were still calling him in a soft whisper, so gentle, so warm, so inviting, beckoning him to take the final step forward. He wanted to—oh, how he wanted to. His mind still felt like it was surrounded by soft clouds, and he was only acting through his unconscious mind. A single final step was all he needed—just one. He lifted his foot off of the ground and..._

Someone's voice screamed loudly, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" 

Harry fell a great distance like you do when you have falling dreams, only he actually did fall. He landed on his mattress with a *thump*. His heart beat violently against his chest, threatening to rip his chest apart. His breath was labored and his lungs ached and stung painfully. He was breathing in air as though for the first time, gulping it down loudly in large amounts. His eyes were big and bright and he looked around himself wildly. Ron stood next to him, no longer screaming but deathly pale. His scream had attracted everyone in the house, and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione rushed into the door to see what the matter was. Ron jumped on Harry's bed and hugged him fiercely very uncharacteristically. Harry was still having trouble breathing and having Ron crush him wasn't helping at all. They both fell back on the bed, and Harry's vision was swimming. He was too weak to protest. He tried to move his arm, but all he managed was to move his fingertips. He tried to speak but his mouth was filled with molasses—no sound escaped his throat. He felt so heavy, like he was being weighed down with lead. The women in the room were looking on worriedly and confused. Ron was almost hysterical, sobbing but with no tears, babbling incoherent things to Harry. Harry couldn't stand the darkness pressing in on him any longer and promptly passed out.

~~~

When his eyes opened, the first thing he noticed was Mrs. Weasley sitting on the edge of the bed wiping his forehead with a cold washcloth, and mumbling soothing words. He noticed a shaken Ron in the background, as well as Hermione and Ginny. 

"Wha–" his voice didn't seem to be working so he cleared his throat and tried again, "What happened?"

At this Mrs. Weasley turned around to glare at Ron, but her expression softened upon seeing her son's uncharacteristic distress. "Ron?"

"He hasn't said anything since you've passed out about five minutes ago." Ginny explained to Harry.

Ron breathed in deeply a few times and cleared his throat. "Well I came in here to wake up Harry like you told me, Mum." Ron started looking at his mother. "It looked like he was sleeping..." Ron drifted off. At his mother's encouraging nod, he continued. "He was so _white_. He looked like a vampire. No—worse. Definitely worse." Ron seemed to be rambling and he was even trembling a little. Mrs. Weasley laid a concerned hand on his arm and he stopped his rant and looked up at her. Her eyes were questioning and Ron swallowed, nodded and went on. 

"I called your name," Ron was now looking at Harry while speaking, "and you didn't wake up. I started shaking you, and you were just so..._limp_. And you still didn't wake up. I thought you were just playing around and I started tickling you so you'd wake up. You didn't even move though. I didn't know what was wrong with you; I know how ticklish you are." He added as an afterthought with a fond smile on his face. A moment later though, the smile was erased and his eyes held a pained expression. 

"Then I noticed you weren't even breathing," at this everyone in the room gasped, including Harry. "I thought I must have been mistaken or something, so I felt for a pulse." Ron paused. "Nothing." Ron paused again and it seemed like everyone in the room was holding their breath. "You were just laying there. You weren't moving, you were so white, and limp, and _dead_. It was so scary." Ron paused again. "Then all of a sudden, you started..._floating_. Merlin, it was so weird. You just started floating up in the air. You must have been five feet up and I just panicked. I screamed. That's when you all came in here, and you fell down and started breathing again."

Everyone just stayed silent after that for a long time, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Harry remembered the dream. It was so weird. He'd never had a dream like that before. It felt so real, but at the same time just—_not_. 

Eventually Mrs. Weasley excused herself to fire-call Dumbledore, Ginny went to go with her, and Hermione left mumbling something about looking something up in her books.

Ron looked at Harry uneasily as if expecting him to break at any instant. Harry noticed and rolled his eyes. "Honestly Ron, I'm fine. I'm not made of glass." Ron just laughed nervously at that.

"I'm sorry mate. It was just so scary. I've never imagined what it'd be like if you were dead, and then, boom, you literally freakin' die on me. It just all came crashing down on me, all of the things we've been through together. You're my best friend, I could never lose you." Ron told Harry quietly. After a few moments of silence he added as if to lighten the mood, "If you weren't here, who would help make fun of Hermione with me? I'd join you in a grave next to you just as quickly, the way she'd kill me with her study schedules." Harry laughed feebly at this, but with no trace of humor. 

After roughly a half hour of small talk, Ron eventually went to go off to only Merlin knows where, and left Harry alone. 

He thought Ron made a horrible attempt at lightening the mood with his little joke before, but he didn't blame him. He had never really imagined what it be like without Ron. Sure, when he ran away, he thought he'd never see him again, but somehow he had a feeling that wasn't true. He just never dwelled on it back then, in fear of changing his mind and endangering his friends. Now though, it felt like an all too real possibility. He still hadn't told any of his friends about the prophecy and he intended to keep it that way. It just didn't seem right to tell them then, and it certainly didn't seem right to tell them now. They'd never let him out of their sight. 

What was weird was that he had almost _died_. Hell, he _had_ died. All of his life, he'd been hidden away from others at the Dursley's and protected with uncountable wards and charms. He didn't even know he'd been protected like that.  Protected from the man—if you could call him that—that wanted to kill him since he was a baby. Voldemort tried so hard to kill him in so many different situations. Harry even had to fight him. And then this morning, everything almost ended with a simple dream. It wasn't Voldemort, or even a Death Eater. It was a simple dream—not even a nightmare, _just_ a dream. It was actually quite amusing if he thought about it. Harry snorted. '_Yeah, I'm sure Voldemort would have loved that.'_ he thought sarcastically.

  


But still, his life had almost ended. He'd never see any of his friends again—Ron's goofy grin, Hermione's bossy tone and determined will, Hagrid's bone-crushing hugs (those alone will be the death of him one of these days). Hell, he'd even miss Snape's bitter comments. He paused for a moment in thought. _'Nah...I don't think I'd miss those.'_ Harry thought scrunching up his nose in disgust just thinking about the greasy git.

The point though, was that he'd almost ended everything. The pain, the confusion, the stress, the expectations, _everything_. Perhaps he would have seen Sirius and his parents again. Maybe he'd be eating with his parents, and later enjoyed a 'guys night out' at a Quidditch game, like his father said in his dream on the bus a while back.

Harry sighed. He had never considered ending his life himself. And he knew he would never consider it in the future. Harry's face hardened. Contrary to Dumledore's beliefs, he had never forgotten his mother's sacrifice. Just wasting it and committing suicide was just unthinkable. He didn't quite understand why people committed suicide in the first place. Why? It just didn't make sense to him. Life can never be so bad that someone would have to rely on such extremes, could it? _'Well life can't exactly get worse than this' _Harry thought wryly.

Harry sighed once more and laid back on his fluffy sheets. '_Why does life have to be so complicating?_' He knew it was a futile question, and the voices in his head were rolling around the floor in hysterical laughter at the mere thought of it. 

His mind was overflowing with thoughts and it just gave him a migraine. A sudden idea struck him and he sat up. Looking around his room he noticed something was missing. He slumped against the headboard of his bed in defeat. He had wanted to use his new Pensieve to get rid of some of the thoughts swimming around his head, but he just remembered his trunk was still at Gringotts. As if reading his mind, a voice yelled from somewhere below, "Kids, get dressed and ready, we're going to Diagon Alley today." Harry just laughed in amusement at the timing while getting off his bed to get ready for the already eventful day.

~*~*~*~

Forty minutes later had Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley leaving the Leaky Cauldron and walking into the colorful lane that was Diagon Alley. Harry breathed in the air deeply and relished the familiar sight before him. Shops of all different sorts adorned the alley on each side, and happy families walked in and out of them laughing as if they had not a care in the world. Sure he'd been to Diagon Alley this summer already, but it was almost totally empty and he'd been trying to keep his head down as to not be recognized. He had never gotten a feel of the familiar alley at that time. Harry had a huge smile plastered on his face, and the Weasley's and Hermione were looking at him concerned due to the joy he displayed over a simple trip to Diagon Alley. 

They just didn't understand. This—this _felt_ right. At this instant he could never imagine having been away from the wizarding world. He had no idea why he had run away at this moment. Despite its faults—like Voldemort, its corrupted ministry, Voldemort, the biased community, Voldemort, the gullible people that listened to anything the press printed, oh and of course Voldemort—the wizarding world was still Harry's home. No Dursleys looking at him in disgust, no neighbors looking at Harry as if he were the spawn of the Devil, and no Dudley and company teasing him and beating up little ten year olds. This—this _was_ right.     

Aware of the still concerned gazes directed at him from the Hermione and the Weasleys, Harry's happiness faded somewhat. He rolled his eyes, and pushed past them roughly not caring whether he was being rude, and started walking toward Gringotts. Of course, everyone was still worried sick about him, and he'd never seen Ron act like such a mother hen. _Ron_, of all people. He rolled his eyes again. They nearly didn't let him go to Diagon Alley. __

_Yes_, he was sure he was up for the trip. _Yes_, he'd eaten all of his breakfast. _Yes,_ he had drunk the Pepper-Up Potion just in case (he'd actually thrown it down the drain, but they didn't have to know that)._ Yes_, he felt perfectly okay. _Yes_, he brought a jacket since it was supposed to rain today. _Yes_, he'd pronounce 'Diagon Alley' correctly in the fireplace. _Yes_, he was _definitely_ sure he was 100 percent well enough to go. 

Harry ignored the Weasleys and Hermione who were trying to catch up to him, and walked faster toward the nearest Goblin behind the counter. 

~*~*~*~

The ride down to his vault was..._unique_, as always. He chose to go down alone despite Mrs. Weasley's protest. She'd probably thought he'd fall off the wagon or something. Harry snorted out loud while the Goblin just ignored him. 

Harry chose to keep his Muggle money left over from what he now called his 'little vacation' in his trunk just in case. 'Vacation' was definitely not the right term for it but he had named it as such because of the reaction he received from everyone upon his return. When Dumbledore had found him, he thought Harry had just run away for fun. Harry's face hardened at just thinking about that conversation. Most of the Order members glared at Harry upon seeing him. They thought he'd done it just to gain attention, and that they totally wasted their time just looking for him. _'Well I certainly hadn't **asked** them to come looking for me'_ Harry thought in a somewhat harsh tone. So since everyone thought he had so much 'fun' running away, it was now appropriately called his summer vacation. _'Hey who wouldn't enjoy a vacation consisting of senile old ladies trying to make conversation, sleeping in hay for a day (and discovering despite its appearance, hay is not the most comfortable substance in the world), getting chased by hit wizards and Death Eaters, getting slobbered on for a few hours by a dog, and having the dog then blow up while it and its master were being just purely kind and waiting for you while you were in the loo, and then to top it all off having an emotional breakdown while screaming profanities at your school headmaster.'_ Harry thought sarcastically. _'Sure, I can now see all of the fun I had. Probably enough fun to rival __Disneyland__.'_

Harry was currently looking around his vault since he hadn't done that since...well...ever. He had always just stuffed gold in his bag and left as quickly as possible. But now, on closer inspection, Harry realized there was more than just gold in his vault. In the far corner of the huge vault, stood a counter, and upon it, numerous bright and colorful and no doubt expensive jewels. Harry noticed a box a little larger than a Muggle shoe box next to the counter and curiously walked over to it and opened it. The only thing in the box were scrolls of parchment among more and more scrolls of parchment. Harry carefully unrolled the first scroll. The border was beautifully decorated and the top edge read 'England' in a gorgeous script. The parchment read:

_11249865_

_Certificate of Death_

_Name_                           James Alexander Potter

_Sex_                              M

_Date of Death_             Oct 31, 1982                                                 

_Place of Death _           Godric's Hollow

_Age_                              23__

_Birthplace_London, England__

_Residence                    _England__

_Registration No.          _1982 - 16 - 049715 __

_Given under my hand at __London__, __England__, _

_Ursinus__ A. Denicalis___

_Director of Vital Statistics_

_This_          15          _day of_          Nov          _, 19 _82__

Harry dropped the scroll after reading it, and it flew right back into the box. He felt numb. He couldn't understand why though. He always knew his parents died at Godric's Hollow on October 31, 1982, but seeing it on paper was somehow different than just knowing. He took a deep breath and pulled out another piece of parchment from the box, hoping it wasn't his mother's death certificate. It was decorated in the same patterns as the death certificate, but while the death certificate was decorated in dark colors, this one was decorated in livelier colors. This parchment read:

_11035899_

_Certificate of Birth_

_Name                           _Harry James Potter__

_Sex                              _M__

_Name of Father          _James Alexander Potter__

_Birthplace of Father   _London, England__

_Maiden Name              _Lily Marie Evans__

_of__ Mother_

_Birthplace of Mother   _Cambridge, England__

_Birth Date                   _July 31, 1981__

_Birth Place                  _London       __

_Registration Date        _August 6, 1981__

_Registration No.          _1981 - 16 - 078931__

_Given under my hand at __London__, __England__,_

_Ursinus__ A. Denicalis___

_Director of Vital Statistics_

_This_          6         _day of_          Aug         , 19 81

Harry smiled sadly at this. He'd never seen his own birth certificate. It was incredible how a little piece of parchment could bring out so many emotions, and provide so much information. Just by reading the two pieces of parchment, Harry had realized how little he actually knew about his parents. He never even knew their middle names. He hadn't even known _his_ real name, as pathetic as that sounds. Hermione, Ron, and he had placed bets about what his real name was. Hermione insisted it most probably was Harrison, while Ron figured it was probably Harold, and he himself always thought it was just Harry. _'Guess I won'_, he thought somewhat wryly. Harry was interrupted from his musings by someone clearing their throat nearby. Harry turned around surprised and saw the Goblin that had lead him down here looking rather impatient. Looking down at his watch, Harry noticed he had been in his vault for over twenty minutes. Harry hastily put the birth certificate back inside of the box and closed the lid. 

Before he could take a step toward his trunk at the vault entrance, Harry noticed another box with his name on the cover of it. It was standing on the counter next to all of the bright jewels. It was a beautifully carved wooden box that could easily fit into his hand and on it the word 'Harry' was clearly engraved in a neat script. Harry looked back towards the Goblin whose face by now clearly showed undisguised annoyance. Deciding he didn't want to test his luck, Harry grabbed the little box and put it inside his trunk to look at later. Harry dragged his trunk to the cart while the Goblin closed the door to the vault and gave Harry his key back. The cart took off in what Harry thought was faster than usual and Harry had to hold on tight. _'I guess this is payback for taking so long'_ Harry thought miserably while holding on for dear life. He didn't need to die twice on the same day. _'Poor Ron would have kittens'_ Harry thought internally laughing.

A/N's: Okay, I hate to stop it here, but it's already average sized and if I go on now, I'd have to include the whole trip to Diagon Alley and it'll be _way_ too long. Plus, I thought it'd be nice to have an update in before Thanksgiving, and if I would have posted the whole chapter, you guys would have to have waited till only God knows when.

Don't forget to review and let me know what you guys liked about this chapter, and what you guys absolutely hated. Any suggestions are welcome! Oh yeah, review responses will be in the next chapter, I promise!

P.S. Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Happy Thanksgiving everyone who lives in the US!! Enjoy your holiday & don't forget to eat lots of turkey and sweets!


	9. Attack on Diagon Alley

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Chapter 9: Attack on Diagon Alley

After getting back to the lobby of Gringotts (_"Oh Harry!__ We were **so** worried!"_), Harry and his friends plus Mrs. Weasley made their way to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Harry had needed all new sets of robes seeing as he had grown a lot since last year. He had even bought new dress robes upon Mrs. Weasley's insistence since his old ones were way too small by now. They had all bought their new books as well although it was hard to get Hermione to leave Flourish and Blotts. Next they had gone to get their Potions kits refilled while spending as little time as possible at the smelly Apothecary.

Currently they were walking leisurely down bright and colorful Diagon Alley that was bustling with people as usual. It seemed that over the summer, Harry's image had changed dramatically. In the Daily Prophet, he was no longer portrayed as an aggressive, insane, attention seeking delinquent, but rather a misunderstood, brave and tragic hero. He didn't especially like all of the new attention he was getting, but if it meant that the wizarding world finally recognized Lord Voldemort's return, he was willing to ignore the press' worshiping antics. 

Harry's friends were all talking jovially while Harry walked a half-step behind them staying out of the conversation. He was still mad at them. By this time he had forgotten why, but to him it didn't matter _why_ anymore. He was still overly annoyed at being back at Grimmauld Place. He just didn't understand why they couldn't let him be. He didn't want anyone to get hurt because of him, and he could just _sense_ something was going to happen.

Harry stopped walking when he felt a tugging on his robes. He looked around confused but he didn't see anything so he started walking again. He didn't get further than five steps when he felt the tugging again. Harry looked around again and finally looked down. Standing there was a little girl no more than six years old with long blond hair put up in high pigtails on either side of her face. She was wearing light purple robes with flowers and butterflies on the front of them and looking up at Harry uncertainly. Harry looked down at her questioningly. "Excuse me, but are you Harry Potter?" the girl asked timidly in a little voice slightly mispronouncing the R's. 

He was still confused but nodded while casting a glance at his friends standing in front of him. They just gave him a shrug in return. "I was wondering," she asked holding up a quill and a piece of parchment, "can I have your autograph?" 

At this Harry flushed red and glared at Ron who was doubled over howling with laughter. Ginny was laughing also, albeit in a more controlled manner. Hermione was unsuccessfully trying to stop a smile from appearing on her face, and Mrs. Weasley squealed, _'Aww! How cute!'._ Harry was about to refuse—something just screamed _'Lockhart!'_ in his mind—but he caught sight of the girl's trembling lower lip and her puppy dog eyes. Harry sighed and signed his name as quickly as he could. When he bent over to give the girl back her parchment, she hugged him fiercely around the neck earning another '_Aww!'_ from Mrs. Weasley. 

"Thank you Harry! My brother told me all about you. I wanna be just like you when I grow up and I'm practicing really hard to be seeker," the little girl said sweetly staring up at Harry admiringly before running off to find her brother and parents.

Harry smiled a rather forced smile at her retreating back, while still blushing, and looked around himself to see if anyone besides his friends saw that little exchange. Some old ladies were looking at him adoringly and he ran before anyone else asked him for his autograph. When Harry passed Ron, (who was by now full out rolling on the floor with laughter), he glared at him and barely resisted the urge to kick him. 

~*~*~*~

"Okay kids, I want you to meet me by the statue in front of Ollivander's in exactly one hour," Mrs. Weasley told the group sternly. They had all just enjoyed a lunch at the Leaky Cauldron that despite being dark and shabby, did have excellent food. Harry was sure that if he had to endure one more joke from Ron about the little girl, he was going to punch him. _Hard_. 

"Okay guys, where do you wanna go? Fancy going to the Quidditch shop with me, Harry?" Ron asked. Harry was still glaring daggers at him.

"Actually I wanted to go Flourish and Blotts," Harry replied. At this, everyone gaped at him. Ron was the first to snap out of it. 

"Blimey Harry! Are you sure you're feeling alright?" he asked while feeling Harry's forehead for a fever. Harry brushed his hand away annoyed, and started walking towards the book shop. After less than a minute, Harry heard running footsteps behind him.

"Wait up Harry!" Hermione's voice called. He didn't even slow down but Hermione caught up to him. She was panting heavily but still managed to ask Harry, "What are you going to do at Flourish and Blotts?" 

Harry gave her an annoyed glance and answered sarcastically, "What do people usually do at a book shop?" Hermione looked frustrated at that answer and Harry could even see hurt in her deep brown eyes. He sighed,"I wanted to find a book on...," Harry faltered, "umm...what are they called again? Eve...Evano...," he was cut off by Hermione.

"Evanidus Anguis'?" she asked.

"Yeah, those!" Harry said gratefully. Hermione just smiled in return.

~*~*~*~

It was five minutes later that Hermione was absorbed in heavy tomes she considered 'light reading', and Harry was asking the shop clerk for the book on Evanidus Anguis'.

"Excuse me. Do you have any books on Evanidus Anguis'?" 

"Sorry kid," the shop clerk answered with a dry laugh. "Those are dark creatures," Harry frowned at this. "Only place you're going to find a book on those is Knockturn Alley."

Harry mumbled his thanks and made his way back to where Hermione was sitting engrossed in her books. He bit his lip in thought. He really wanted a book so he could find out more about Sal but like the shop clerk said the only place they sell them is Knockturn Alley. He was sure Mrs. Weasley wouldn't appreciate him going down there. _'But Mrs. Weasley isn't here,'_ his mischievous inner voice said. Harry smirked and cleared his throat. Hermione didn't even look up from her book. 

"Hmm?"

"Hermione, I'm going to go find Ron, okay?" 

"Uh-huh," she mumbled distractedly. He doubted she even payed attention to what she said, and he was pretty sure he could have just told her he was going to Knockturn Alley and she wouldn't notice.

Harry internally cackled and made his way outside. He squinted against the bright sun and made his way down the alley to where he remembered Knockturn Alley being. 

~*~*~*~

Five minutes later, Harry was walking around the dingy alleyway that was Knockturn Alley. The sunlight was almost completely blocked out so the alley was as dark as night. There were lights on inside of the many shops; some of which had the most disgusting things inside of them. Some of these things included shrunken heads, human body parts, gigantic spiders like Aragog's children in cages, and many other things, some of which Harry had no idea what they were used for, much less what they were. 

He wasn't sure where he was going since he didn't exactly come to Knockturn Alley all the time. Harry was just walking around staying in the shadows—which probably wasn't very smart. The hood of his cloak was covering the upper part of his face, and he kept his head down so he couldn't be recognized. He doubted it'd be very wise for the Boy Who Lived to be seen in Knockturn Alley, especially at a time like this. They probably had ransoms posted in Knockturn Alley for him. Who knows, after the Dark Lord finishes with him, his body parts could end up in those nasty display windows. Harry shuddered at that thought and tried to ignore the windows and looked at all of the different signs in front of each shop instead—which was sort of hard since most didn't have signs. He was getting nervous though, he was pretty deep into Knockturn Alley and he still hadn't found the book shop. Shady looking people were looking at him strangely muttering things to each other, and Harry unconsciously flattened his bangs over his scar. He saw a rotted away wooden sign a few stores over that simply said 'Books' on it in a slanted cursive. Relief flooded through him, but before he could walk towards the shop, he heard something that made his stomach plummet.

"Yes. Master should be very happy."

Harry froze and his eyes widened. The voice had come from the abandoned shop he was walking past. The display window to the shop was broken so everything could be heard inside. Making sure his hood was covering his face, Harry ducked and looked inside the shop. It was dark, but he could make out two cloaked figures that were definitely Death Eaters although their faces were turned away from him so he couldn't recognize them. 

"Don't forget! You should start attacking in exactly ten minutes and do as much damage as possible. And don't forget about the little brat's friends," one of the voices said importantly.

"Yes I know that," the voice responded annoyed.

The first voice chuckled evilly, "Potter won't know what hit him."

Harry's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards. He fell onto a barrel of dragon liver from the shop next door and both the barrel and himself fell onto the pavement with a loud *crash*. The Death Eaters had heard him and turned around quickly brandishing their wands. Harry got up as quickly as possible dodging the Death Eater's curses and ignoring the shop keepers yells, and ran as fast as his legs would let him through the narrow and curvy alley dodging various curses from behind him and various objects and people in his way. He was a fast runner (from years of practice running away from Dudley and his gang) so he got to Diagon Alley, which was filled with people, quickly. _'Damn,'_ Harry thought with some amount of panic, _'now how am I supposed to find everyone.'_ Harry checked his watch quickly and noticed one hour had almost passed since he left the Leaky Cauldron so he ran towards their assigned meeting spot in the middle of the alley.

Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Ginny were there already and Harry assumed Hermione was still at Flourish and Blotts. When Mrs. Weasley saw Harry running towards them, she got a concerned expression on her face. Harry was panting but talked in between breaths. "Mrs. Weasley...Death Eaters...are going...to attack!" Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened but she didn't move. "NOW!!" Harry yelled out, and to prove his point they heard a loud bang behind them. That set everyone into motion. Harry, Ron, and Ginny quickly brandished their wands from their pockets and turned around, eyes widening simultaneously.

There were some twenty Death Eaters attacking random people and there were at least another twenty behind those. Diagon Alley was in total and utter chaos; people were running around screaming and the Death Eaters were shooting curses at them and doing as much damage as possible to Diagon Alley by numerous ways like setting buildings on fire. People were lying on the ground and Harry didn't even want to think about if they were simply stunned or if they were indeed dead. Flashes of every color were flying all over the place, but the black cloaked figures used a disturbing number of green flashes. 

Harry had just stunned a Death Eater and dodged a green curse directed at him, when he stumbled and fell. Turning around to see what he tripped over, Harry saw a little girl lying limply on the ground. It was the same little girl that had asked him for his autograph earlier. Her purple robes were torn and bloody and her beautiful blond hair was messed up and thrown all over. Her still form was lying on the ground with her eyes open staring straight ahead. Harry barely even her, but he was consumed by grief and guilt. She would never get a chance to grow up. She'd never come to this very same place to buy her first wand, she'd never ride the boats across the lake to go Hogwarts, she would never get sorted into her house, and she'd never be seeker, and her brother would be an only child. Harry was interrupted from his oppressing thoughts by a scream of pain he recognized immediately.

_Hermione._

Harry turned around and saw her under a Death Eater's wand. The Death Eater was laughing while Hermione was writhing on the ground in pain. Harry was so mad all he saw was red. With a yell, Harry ran towards them and stunned the Death Eater from behind with a little more force than necessary. The Death Eater flew backwards and crashed against the window of a shop, breaking the glass.

Hermione was lying on the ground panting, her brown curls scattered all around her head. Her eyes were closed and tears were leaking out of them. Harry ran towards her and kneeled behind her ignoring the raging battle all around them. He lifted her head onto his lap and wiped at the tears streaming down her face unaware that he had tears of his own falling down his face. Hermione's eyes opened and she cracked a little smile. "Thank you," was all she whispered and she promptly passed out. 

Harry still sat there and was only dimly aware of someone roughly thrusting something in his and Hermione's hands before he was lost in a whirlwind of colors and he was gone from the horrible battle being fought in Diagon Alley.

A/N's: *winces* I know, I know. I killed the little girl. Poor thing. I'm so evil. Not only do I kill our beloved Butch, but then I have to kill the adorable little girl too. 

**Review Responses:**

~Okay, these are for two chapters, so your chapter 7 review will be labeled **7) and the response to your chapter 8 review will be labeled ****8). Easy enough, right?~**

**Facade1** - **7) hehe, of course I missed your divine presence. You're one of my most loyal reviewers and your reviews always manage to make me smile. Ah yes, Sal. He seems to have that effect on people—infatuation. ;-) As for Butch, I believe Celtic55 is working on a story about him...lol. I can't wait to read it. And death threats? Wow...well I did update pretty quickly so I won't have to worry too much, right?  ****8) *bows*...J/K...lol. So you liked Mother-hen!Ron? lol...yeah I've never seen it either but there's always a first time for everything. When I was writing, it just came out that way. It does suit him in that situation though, no? Thanks again for your awesome reviews!!**

**HavenKane** - **7) Don't worry I won't cut the review responses. I love writing them. I'm sorry about your brother and I hope he gets better soon! lol...yes, I feel very loved b/c you reviewed! **8)** I'm glad you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Sorry, you won't be finding out what's in the box for a while, but I'm sure you'll like it a lot! I bet that didn't help at all—you're probably more curious now...lol. Thanks again for your great reviews!! **

**Newen Faelvirin **- Thanks! Keep reading and reviewing!

**Alan** - **7) Arghh, I'm so sorry I didn't e-mail the floor plan to you! I tried, I really, really did! I can't do it on hotmail b/c it's over however many megabytes they let you use for attachments, and on yahoo it always freezes on me mid-process and I tried it like 3 times. I'm so sorry! When I find the time, I'm going to post it on either a yahoo!groups or maybe a geocities site. ****8) You wanted a trip to Knockturn Alley? You got a trip to Knockturn Alley! Lol...I hope you liked it. Has anyone ever told you you're very perceptive? Good job for that and you'll just have to wait and see! Thanks again for your reviews, I'm always looking forward to them.**

**Lolly ****Phoenix - **7) **Thanks! Yeah, everyone seems to like Sal a lot. He's a cool guy. ****8) lol...Voldemort might have had something to do with the dream—you'll just have to see. Thanks for your reviews. I love 'em; keep 'em up!**

**pablo5280** - *salutes* Aye, Aye Captain! Lol...J/K. Hope you liked this chapter, make sure to let me know!

**Celtic55** - **7) Thanks for all of your encouraging comments! I basically feed on them! So you have to keep them up, cuz you wouldn't want to see me starve, would you? I'd never get the story finished then! Lol...J/K. **8) **I'm very glad you liked the dream. lol...it's a dream, hence it's supposed to bring a dream-like quality...lol...J/K. No but seriously, I'm glad it did. I'm also glad you like the Harry/Ron thing. Yeah, Ron's response was pretty surprising, but I think much needed. It made Ron realize just how much he needs his best friend. Maybe it'll diminish the jealousy factor he seems to have. :-) lol. Yeah, Mother-hen!Ron...lol. Ron was pretty funny. Sorry—no Sal again this chapter. :-( I'll try to make him come out next chapter. Everyone seems to love Sal, and that's great! There's tons of fics where Harry gets a snake, but I think I've set Sal's personality apart enough so it's not so cliche. I've never seen a sarcastic snake b4 so that's good I think. He's so cool. Thanks again for your awesome reviews, I'm always looking forward to them!**

  


**szely** - lol...I'm sorry but I'm not sure Harry will take up smoking. An illegal wand? Hmm...sounds interesting. I _did_ put in Knockturn Alley. I hope you liked that. Thanks and don't stop reading and keep up the reviews!

**Chibi-Bex** - Sorry but unfortunately you won't be finding out what's in the box very soon. But I'm sure you'll like it! Yeah, I'd scream if I walked in to find my best friend dead too. Good thing Ron did scream, or Harry may have been permanently dead—oops! I think I've said too much! ;-) Thanks again and keep reading and keep up the good reviews!! They're awesome!

**maria** - Talented writer? Wow thanks! I've never been called a writer before, much less talented. Mr. Froggy, huh? Sorry, it's a little too late for a name change, but I hope 'Sal' is okay with you. I hope you review the rest of my chapters still; I'd like to hear more from you! Thanks again, and keep reading!

**charlie26** - Thanks! I'll definitely keep writing. I hope you'll keep reviewing!

**Peak**** of ****Truimph - Thanks! I'm sorry about this cliffy! Keep reading and reviewing!**

Thanks again everyone for reviewing. Maybe we'll get past 100 with this chapter? That would be wicked cool!! 

Let me know what you thought of this chapter. Did you like it? Was there anything that would have been better if it were different? Any suggestions for something you want to happen in future chapters? (like resurrect Butch and the little girl) (hehe...just kidding about that btw)


	10. The Three Unforgivables

_ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1

Chapter 10: The Three Unforgivables

Harry was dizzily flying through a whirlwind of nauseating colors before abruptly hitting the hard ground and landing painfully on his left arm. Harry winced when he heard a sharp *snap*. He grimaced looking down at it to see it twisted and he could clearly make out a bone sticking out at an odd angle.  Gnawing the inside of his cheek in pain, Harry looked up and found himself in a small, dark and dusty room. With some amount of panic, he realized he was neither at Hogwarts or Grimmauld Place. Harry bit his lip in worry. He heard a ruffling noise behind him, and swiftly turned around. The last thing he saw was a distinct flash of silver before his world went black.

~*~*~*~

Harry was painfully snapped back into the world of reality with an internal groan. He couldn't move at all and his arm was killing him. The only part of his body he was able to move were his eyeballs, which he was making of good use right now by thoroughly looking around. Harry noticed he was still in the same murky room as before. The walls had peeling, yellowed wallpaper and the only window in the room was covered with some green type of plant from the outside that Harry could only guess was ivy, giving the room its darkness. Harry's nostrils were full of the smell of decay and if he would have been able to move he would have sneezed from the thick layer of dust on the hardwood floor. The grate of the fireplace in the corner of the room held a dying fire whose lights were casting long spidery shadows on the wall. Harry vaguely recognized the room, but he didn't know from where. He caught movement from the corner of his right eye and looked towards it. What he saw made his stomach plummet and a surge of anger flowed through him. There was a short plump man in front of something else he couldn't see. That wasn't what made him angry though. The man was turned away from him but a distinct silver hand could be seen from the large folds of his dark black cloak. He must have felt someone's eyes on him, for the man turned around while chuckling. Upon seeing his face, Harry was filled with fury. All the previous fear was gone to be replaced by solid anger. Harry was looking into the chuckling face of his parents' indirect murderer.

Peter Pettigrew.

His fine sandy blond hair was as gray as ever and his small eyes were filled with morbid delight.

"Potter, Potter, Potter," Pettigrew started in a mocking tone. "You're not feeling all high and mighty now, are you?" Wormtail asked in an over-confident sounding voice. Harry was internally seething with anger and would have retorted if he wasn't in a body bind. The short man continued. 

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" he chuckled smugly. If he would have been able to move, Harry would have given Wormtail a rather rude hand gesture. Now he was really regretting not letting Sirius and Remus kill the bastard in his third year. Before he could think of any more ways to murder Pettigrew, he continued. 

"No matter. My master will be here soon," Wormtail laughed wickedly. "Oh don't worry Harry," the rat continued in a mocking tone, "you'll see your pathetic dog of a godfather again soon."

Harry saw red. He was so angry. No, angry didn't even begin to describe it. How did that bloody bastard have a right to even mention his godfather? It was all Pettigrew's fault; if he hadn't been such a coward, Harry's parents and godfather could have still been alive. 

The ivy covered window at the far side of the room blew up and the glass shattered into a million tiny pieces scattering themselves across the hearth rug in front of the dying fire. The faint light of the fire reflected off of the tiny pieces of glass making them shine in the room like diamonds. 

The pointy nosed man who's back was to Harry staring at what used to be a glass covered window, slowly turned and stared at Harry maliciously. His narrowed watery eyes were shining with anger and Harry could even detect some amount of fear in them. 

"You just wait, Potter. In a few minutes the Dark Lord will arrive and you'll get what you deserve," Wormtail hissed while glaring at Harry with unveiled loathing reflecting off his eyes. Suddenly his smug smile reappeared full force making Harry uneasy for the first time since being in—well, being wherever he was. "Oh but of course before the Dark Lord kills you," he started smiling wickedly, "you'll get to see your precious friend die." 

Harry stared at him confused until Wormtail swiftly slid two steps to his right in one fluid motion, revealing what—or rather, _who_ was behind him.

_Hermione._

Harry's stomach plummeted and his heart felt like it was being violently ripped out. There was a Muggle tennis ball sized lump in his throat, and Harry tried in vain to swallow it.

Hermione seemingly was in the same situation as himself. She was propped up against the wall, stiff as a board. Her long brown hair, whose bushiness had diminished over the years, was now as frizzy as ever, splaying wild curls over parts of her face. Her magnificent brown eyes were staring directly at him reflecting fear and something else Harry couldn't distinguish. He had never seen that expression on her face before and he wanted nothing else than to look away, at something—_anything_ else, but he could not bring himself to look away from those deep brown orbs. 

Harry jumped out of his skin—well as well as anyone can jump when they're under the full body bind—at a noise from downstairs. Harry's scar started to itch more and more until it developed into full out pain. He felt a chill run up his spine from what he knew was about to come. Footsteps could be heard from just outside the door, and Wormtail looked slightly nervous. Harry glanced over at Hermione but her eyes betrayed nothing. 

The door creaked open slowly and white hot pain shot up Harry's scar. His eyes were watering since he couldn't close them. Harry stared into the face of his most hated enemy.

_Voldemort_.____

Harry refused to look away from his enemy's face despite the pain. An evil grin was plastered on Voldemort's whiter than white snakelike face showing off large yellow teeth. His large scarlet eyes were reflecting gleeful joy and staring straight at Harry. He didn't speak for what seemed like hours, but what was in reality only a few minutes. Instead of saying anything directly to Harry, Voldemort turned to the slightly quivering Wormtail. 

"You've done very well, Wormtail," the Dark Lord hissed to the rat with a malicious smile. Wormtail visibly relaxed. "But," Voldemort continued, "you were supposed to bring the boy's other friend as well." 

Wormtail's eyes widened and he spluttered. "B...Bu...But my L...Lo—"

"Silence!" Voldemort's cold voice cut in while Wormtail flinched. 

"Crucio," the Dark Lord said lazily pointing his wand at the balding man. Pettigrew immediately fell to the floor writhing violently and screaming in pain. The Dark Lord merely chuckled evilly. After less than a minute, Wormtail's voice was already hoarse and the Dark Lord broke off the spell. Not even sparing the twitching body a glance, Voldemort finally turned to face Harry's frozen form.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, savior of the wizarding world, and Dumbledore's gullible little pawn," You-Know-Who started tauntingly. Harry's scar by now was a raw red color from the unbearable pain and his eyes were over leaking with tears from the lack of blinking, but he still refused to look away. Voldemort mistook his watering eyes for real tears. "Aww, don't cry," he started mockingly, "you'll soon be the Boy-Who-Died and see your pathetic excuse of parents again.

"There are just a few more things I have to do," he said nastily. Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry and silently undid his body bind. Harry fell forward before he could steady himself. The Dark Lord laughed an entirely mirthless laugh while Harry struggled to get up. Something poked his hip sharply making Harry hiss before he widened his eyes. His wand! Harry discreetly pulled it out of his robe pocket while getting up. He stood up straight facing the Dark Lord with his wand behind his back. Voldemort laughed again while pointing his wand at Harry but before he could get one word out, Harry brandished his wand and threw a "Stupify!" at him. Voldemort's eyes widened slightly in surprise before he dodged out of the way of the curse. He glared at Wormtail still cowering in the corner, most probably for forgetting to take Harry's wand, before throwing the Cruciatus Curse at Harry. Harry tried to dodge it but didn't quite make it. 

Pain above any other filled his body. Harry had been under the curse many times before, but nothing could have prepared him for it once more. His bones were on fire, and tiny white hot needles were penetrating his body. His eyes were rolling around his head and he could hear screams, unaware they were being produced by himself. 

When the pain finally ended after a few miserable minutes that seemed like lifetimes, Harry lay panting on the ground. He quickly tried to heave himself up ignoring his shanking limbs, but made the mistake of leaning on his broken arm and falling right back down with a sharp sting of pain. He had completely forgotten about his arm after the Cruciatus. Voldemort was laughing a high, cold, and mirthless laugh, quite enjoying viewing Harry suffer. 

After four more failed attempts at getting up on Harry's part, Voldemort's patience seemed to be running out for he pointed his wand at Harry once more, muttering a well chosen word under his breath. Before Harry had a chance to dodge or even figure out what Voldemort had said, the most wonderful feeling enveloped him. He no longer suffered the pain of the previous Cruciatus Curse, or the pain in his broken arm. The searing pain in his scar was just a dull ache which wasn't even comparable to the white hot knife that was cutting it open before. All of his worries were gently pushed away from his mind. All that was left in his mind now was a vague feeling of joy, and even his previously aching muscles were relaxed.

And then he heard Voldemort's voice deep inside his empty head. His voice almost sounded as if it was yelling from very far away.

_...get up..._

Harry followed the voice's instruction without hesitation, wand still in hand. He was only dimly aware of Voldemort grinning wickedly.

_...point your wand at your friend..._

Harry slightly raised his arm following the instructions in his blissfully empty mind until another voice inside his head froze him in mid-movement.

**Why should I?**** What's the point of that?**

_...do it boy! Point your wand... ___

Harry did what he was told and pointed his wand at his friend, enjoying the empty sensation in his mind.

_...kill the girl...___

**Huh?**

_...kill her, boy!...___

**What for?******

_...I said kill her, boy!...___

**I'm _not_ killing her! She's my friend!******

_...KILL HER!!!...___

"**NO!!!" Harry yelled out loud snapping out of the curse. Harry turned furiously bright green eyes to Voldemort and did the first thing he could think of. He raised his wand to a slightly surprised and frozen Dark Lord and yelled out the two words that had ruined his life:**

"AVADA KEDAVRA"

A/N's: Tsk, tsk....doesn't Voldemort ever learn not to duel Harry? _Something_ is bound to go wrong! Oh well, JKR didn't exactly make him the sharpest tool in the shed. 

Sorry for the cliffhanger...um..._again_. ;-) I'm just so hopelessly addicted to them. 

Next chapter shouldn't take nearly as long (if school cooperates) and review responses will be next chapter as well, I promise!! 

Please review and let me know if you liked this chapter and/or how you like the story so far!! I'd love to know what you guys thought of this chapter especially! Was there anything that could have been improved? 

Thanks again everyone for r/r. 


	11. Dragging, Nagging, Shagging, and Gagging

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1A/N's: Hey everyone! *sighs sadly* I'm sure you've all noticed the title change of my baby :-(

Now, even though I'm sad about it, there _is_ a really good reason for this. I finally got my first semi-flame. The person *cough*Jolie*cough* didn't actually criticize the story, but rather the title. She told me that Lucifer is really a bad mistranslation of the bible and is _not_ the name of the fallen angel (the Devil). I didn't actually believe her at first, especially since one of the web-sites she gave me was a Mormon website (no offense to Mormons intended), but after some extensive research on my part (and my dad's), I found out she's right.

Lucifer really is a mistranslation and is only actually mentioned in the whole Bible once, and once you read the verse you can see where it can be a mistranslation. Plus, Lucifer is a Latin name, not Greek or Hebrew (the languages of the Bible). That was a bad mistranslation by St. Jerome there. 

So then, now that I had found out that the reviewer was right, I had to decide whether to change the title or not.

Originally, I hadn't planned on it since out of 135 reviews nobody had noticed yet. Plus, my dad is a pastor, and even _he_ didn't know about the mistranslation.

So after a long internal debate, I did decide to change it. I take my story very seriously so I wanted it to be perfect. So voila! Harry Potter and Lucifer's Reign is now officially Harry Potter and the Reign of Darkness. It's not too big of a change so I hope you guys don't mind too much.

(*points* I blame _you_, St. Jerome!)

Also, one more thing before you start this chapter, there are some curse words in this chapter, but it shouldn't really be a problem since the story's rated PG-13. I'm sure they're words you've all heard before. ;-) This is a long chapter, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when writing it. And review responses are at the bottom like always.

Enjoy!

Chapter 11:  Dragging, Nagging, Shagging, and Gagging

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

~*~*~*~

Voldemort's eyes widened in surprise before the deathly green curse hit him square in the chest making Riddle fall backwards onto the dusty hardwood floor.

Harry was doubled over, panting heavily, with sweat dripping down his forehead. He heard a high squeak in the corner, and wearily turned to face it.

Peter Pettigrew was whimpering while staring from Voldemort's still form to Harry and back to Voldemort again. 

Harry's face hardened in anger. "Oh shut the hell up, you blubbering baby!" And with that, Harry stunned him furiously with a little more force than necessary. Harry walked over to the still form and kicked him in the stomach...just for good measure.

Harry was pacing distractedly and thinking about what to do next, when he remembered a little detail. An _important_ little detail.

Hermione.

She was still in a body bind and Harry quickly jumped over to her while undoing the spell.  When she was free to move about, the first thing she did was jump on him and crush him in a hug. Unfortunately, she was crushing his broken arm and Harry gave a yelp in pain. She hastily jumped back.

"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry," she said with tears pooling down her cheeks. They both knew she wasn't talking about his broken arm, although Harry wasn't sure exactly _why_ she was sorry otherwise. He decided he'd worry about that later.

Hermione leaned over Voldemort's still body in a hesitant way.

"Don't even bother checking. He's not dead," Harry told her almost distractedly.

Hermione looked up at him sharply at this. "How do you know?" she asked with curiosity in her voice as well as a twinge of doubt. All the same, she shrank away from the body and unconsciously got closer to Harry.

"I—," Harry furrowed his eyebrows together, "I'm not sure. I just know."  He was staring at Voldemort's still form, not really seeing him. He seemed to be deep in thought.

A few seconds later, he snapped out of it abruptly and turned to Hermione, making her jump.

"C'mon, we have to go," Harry said hurriedly while starting to walk toward the door.

"Wait! What about Wormtail?" she asked him while biting her bottom lip and glancing toward the still form of the rat.

Harry gave a frustrated sigh and turned to look at Pettigrew with an expression of distaste. "Look, we don't have time! Just forget about him!" Harry said urgently while roughly grabbing her upper arm ignoring her cry of surprise. He got all the way through the hall and was about to descend the stairs before Hermione pulled herself out of his grasp and glared at him through narrowed eyes. Harry just rolled his eyes making Hermione bristle indignantly and kept hurrying forward, by now almost running. Hermione hurried to catch up with him.

~*~*~*~

A little more than an hour later found Harry and Hermione running—or more like stumbling—through a forest in who knows where. 

Upon stepping out of the front door, they had found out that the house they had been in was situated on a large cliff in between a small village and a dense forest. When choosing which direction to go, Harry had opted for the forest. 

Despite being the middle of August, the forest was cold and damp. Both Harry and Hermione's bodies were littered with cuts and scratches and they were both tired and out of breath. Mud covered both of their clothes and Hermione had leaves and twigs in her frizzy hair. Not that their appearance mattered to either of them right now.

*thump*

Harry hadn't even bothered to stop until he heard Hermione starting to cry softly. Surprised, Harry turned around and was met with the site of Hermione sitting on a bed of leaves on the cold forest floor about thirty feet away with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms placed firmly around them. She had her face down, splaying frizzy curls all around her. Her shoulders were shaking and it was obvious she was crying. Harry approached her carefully.

"Hermione?" he asked her gently. When she didn't respond, he tried again. "Hermione, are you hurt?"

Hermione just shook her head and continued to cry. Harry was feeling more uncomfortable by the seconds. He clumsily sat himself down next to her ignoring the wetness of the leaves underneath him and awkwardly patted her back. Harry was surprised when she flung her arms around him and sobbed onto his shoulder. 

After a few uncomfortable minutes, Hermione's sobs subsided and she pulled back looking into the concerned face of her best friend.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked with a gentle voice.

Hermione didn't answer for a long time and Harry was about to get up again when she spoke.

"Oh Harry, it was just so terrible—," her pain filled voice was cut off by a snort of laughter totally lacking amusement.

"You think I don't know that, Hermione? _'It was so terrible'_," he mimicked Hermione's voice, "of course it was terrible, Hermione, it was _Voldemort_, what did you expect? An invitation to tea with him wearing a big fluffy dress?" Harry asked in a hard tone laced with heavy sarcasm.

Hermione shrank back from him, wincing as if he'd slapped her. Both Hermione and he were surprised at his tone. Before this summer, Harry had never been intentionally rude to his friends—at least not without a reason. The time they had spent in the summer had seemingly consisted of only of his friends' poor attempts at conversation with either a yes or no answer or a sarcastic remark in return from Harry. They really hadn't _talked_. Before they were portkey'd to—well wherever they portkey'd to—Harry had been ready to throttle Ron, and he wasn't exactly on good terms with Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys.

Currently, Hermione's eyes were starting to tear up again and she had an expression of utter hurt on her face. Harry felt guilty immediately until Hermione's expression changed completely. She furiously swiped the tears that had started to trail down her pale cheeks and her face hardened in anger. Before Harry could act—or even think, for that matter—Hermione's hand swung back in a fist and she punched Harry's face. _Hard_. 

Harry jumped back in surprise clamping his hand over his left eye. His now broken glasses clattered to the damp forest floor.

"Dammit, Harry Potter! What the hell is wrong with you?" Hermione screamed at Harry who was staring at her in a surprised—and even a little fearful—manner, through one eye. It was surprising enough that Hermione had punched him, and then she actually cursed. Was this really someone else under Polyjuice? His Hermione never cursed. _His_ Hermione? When had she become _his_ Hermione? He was snapped out of his thoughts by Hermione's enraged voice.

"Why have you been acting like such an asshole lately, Harry? What's wrong with you?"

Harry's face hardened and he roughly pushed past her to begin their journey through the forest once more.

Hermione was by now no longer angry and instead hurried to keep up with him while asking him anxiously, "Aren't we being good enough friends, Harry? Have we done something wrong?"

Harry heaved a frustrated sigh and turned to face her with an expressionless mask on his face. "Look Hermione, I don't want to talk about it. I'm perfectly fine, and it's none of your business anyway."

Hermione looked hurt at this and cast her eyes quickly to the ground—away from the piercing emeralds. Harry sighed once more, this time with guilt. She was his friend—his best friend—and she hadn't done anything wrong to have to be at the receiving end of his frustration. Harry reached out and gently lifted her trembling chin with his fingers so she could look him directly in the eyes. Her eyes shone with tears and the raw emotion that lay beneath them made Harry's breath catch in his throat.

He cleared his throat and spoke in a soft voice, "Listen Hermione, I'm sorry for snapping at you, okay? Can we just move on? The Death Eaters should be on our trail by now." Hermione nodded while biting her lower lip remembering their predicament. Harry let go of Hermione's chin while letting out a breath and smiled his first true smile in a long time, making Hermione smile as well. 

Harry led the way and walked forwards—right into a tree. Hermione laughed out loud until she saw the pained expression on her friend's face, making her rush over quickly. Harry was clutching his arm in obvious pain and tried to get up but stumbled back landing again on his bum. He looked up at her sheepishly, but with pain obvious in his eyes.

"Sorry, I had totally forgotten about my arm."

"What happened to it? Is it hurt badly? Did you break it? When?" Hermione asked each question in very quick succession while helping Harry to his feet.

Harry grimaced. "Yeah, back at that house. It was stupid though, I think I broke it when traveling with the portkey," he replied blushing.

"Honestly," Hermione said while rolling her eyes playfully. "You fight with a Death Eater and Lord Voldemort himself and you don't even get so much as a scratch, but you can't even handle a bloody portkey," Hermione said with a dramatic sigh and shake of the head while healing Harry's arm with a simple spell. A dark blue light formed around it for a few seconds before disappearing revealing a perfectly healthy, un-broken arm.

"Wow Hermione, I'm impressed!" Harry started and Hermione beamed proudly, "I think you've already said more curse words tonight then you have in all your life," Harry continued cheekily.

"Oh shut the bloody hell up, Potter," she growled with narrowed eyes.

"See! There it is again. I think me and Ron are finally rubbing off on you," Harry laughed and skipped past her, dodging her hand which was currently trying to inflict more pain on him.

~*~*~*~

Harry and Hermione had walked as quickly as possible to the end of the cold and damp forest. By now, the sun was setting giving the vast sky a red color mixed in with pinks and oranges. It would have been a rather beautiful sight, had they the time to enjoy it.

They were just stumbling over a fallen tree trunk, and were faced with—

  


"A graveyard!" Hermione squealed. They were indeed in a graveyard and Harry was filled with an overwhelming sense of déjB vu upon setting eyes on it. It was a small graveyard with many statues and graves and Harry could make out a small church behind all of the graves. 

Harry looked towards Hermione, confused by her gleeful attitude. 

"Ooh, I _love_ graveyards," Hermione said excitedly, almost jumping on the spot. Harry just looked at her with an expression on his face that suggested he seriously doubted her sanity. Had the Cruciatus affected her this much? 

"What?" she asked defensively as if reading his thoughts. At Harry's raised eyebrow she elaborated, "I love graveyards," she repeated, this time brushing past Harry to walk—or more like _skip_—among the many statues and graves. "Graveyards are so fascinating," she continued, "each tombstone tells a different story with just a few words. When I was little, my parents used to take me to graveyards and I used to walk along the graves, and looked at each gravestone, speculating on the life the person had." She said all of this with a dreamy look on her face while looking at each grave she passed. 

Harry was looking at her in an exasperated manner. "Hermione!"

"What?"

"That is the most depressing thing I've ever heard!"

Hermione just looked at him and rolled her eyes and continued walking among the graves and statues._ 'Typical Hermione,'_ Harry thought, _'even dead strangers can teach her something.'_ Harry snorted with laughter and followed her for a lack of a better thing to do, but before he could take three steps, he froze. He was staring at a strangely familiar marble angel that he seemed to be almost drawn to.  He was sure he'd seen it before. Its carved features were pronounced greatly, and the red sunlight cast a dark shadow over its face. Its eyes were looking directly towards Harry, almost looking sad, and making a chill run up Harry's spine.  Harry's eyes drifted over the rest of its body, avoiding its eyes in an almost childish fearful manner, and he spotted its left wing's tip broken off. Now he was definitely sure he'd seen this angel before. Before he could decide exactly where, he was interrupted by a half-strangled cry from Hermione. She was standing frozen about ten feet ahead of him, staring at a tombstone with wide eyes. Confused and worried, Harry went over to see what the matter was. Harry knew exactly what had caused her reaction when he saw the name reflected from the large marble headstone by the red rays of the weak evening sun.  

_TOM RIDDLE_

The large gray tombstone was shattered on the ends and had some dark stains on it. It was hard to tell if it was a brown color, or a very dark red. It looked like old dried blood. 

Realization immediately struck him like a pack of rampaging hippogriffs, knocking the air right out of him. This was the graveyard. The graveyard he'd been portkey'd to, the graveyard where Cedric was murdered, the graveyard where Voldemort got his body back, the graveyard where Wormtail received his silver hand, the graveyard where he saw his parents' shadow. __

_The_ graveyard. 

Hermione seemed to notice his behavior and tentatively inched towards him, looking at his face worriedly, but not saying anything. 

He snapped out of it after a few seconds and grabbed Hermione's hand. "C'mon Hermione, we better go. I know where we are now," he said softly while pulling her towards the little church behind the graveyard. She didn't pull her hand away from his, but let him pull her, staying silent the whole time.

~*~*~*~

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T COME TO WORK TONIGHT?" 

Harry and Hermione both flinched and jumped back at the woman's shrill voice. Harry was sure her voice would break every glass around her.

After walking past the little church by the graveyard, Harry and Hermione found a rather large town about three miles west of it. They were both in pain and exhausted and decided that the best course of action would be to find a hotel somewhere and spend the night there. The town's name was Bellingham and close to ten miles from Little Hangleton—the place they were before. Harry had correctly identified it as the Riddle House he'd seen in his dreams a few years back. 

Their current plan was to spend the night and wake up early to get going as quickly as possible. They weren't exactly sure if Death Eaters were still on their trail, and they wanted to take no chances. Harry had originally been planning on going back to London and Grimmauld Place, but upon finding out exactly where they were, Hermione had stated that Hogwarts was by far closer, so that's where they were now headed.

Currently, they were inside the lobby of a small inn that was situated in between a family restaurant and a post office. A woman, who they guessed worked there, was screaming on the telephone, totally ignoring their presence. She was a very skinny woman who looked like she had one too many plastic surgeries. She had bleached hair and was wearing a tight and short green dress that showed off way too much cleavage. Her blue eye shadow and bright pink lipstick contrasted with the dress horribly.

"YES IT'S A PROBLEM!!...," she screamed into the mouthpiece. Harry and Hermione flinched again in unison.

"...Matthew and Carol both called in sick too!...," she started again in a voice that was just a tad bit quieter—but not by much. "...Yeah I'm sure they're real sick," she said sarcastically, "they're probably off shagging somewhere."  Harry bit back a laugh and glanced at Hermione who was blushing furiously and looked like she wanted to be somewhere else. _Anywhere_ else.

"No, you listen to _me_, asshole!...You know what? Fuck you! Don't even bother coming back to work again!" and with that the woman violently hung up the phone on the wall set. Unfortunately, she hung it up a little _too_ violently and the whole telephone system fell off the wall. She didn't even bother picking it up and instead kicked the wall with a frustrated scream.

Unfortunately, Harry couldn't hold in his laugh any longer and let a chuckle escape. The woman froze and turned around fixing them both with a glare that would make even Snape shrink away. Hermione's eyes widened and Harry clamped a hand over his own mouth. 

"You think this is funny, do you?" she hissed with narrowed eyes.

"Umm..ye...er...that is, no," Harry stuttered stupidly. She was still glaring so he added a quiet "ma'am." This was obviously the wrong thing to say because the woman bristled angrily. 

"Do I look like a 'ma'am' to you?" she barked, advancing on Harry. Harry opened his mouth to respond to the affirmative when she continued angrily, "Ma'am is a term used for old women. Do I look like an old woman?"

"No ma'a...erm no," Harry squeaked uncharacteristically. 

"That's what I thought," she grumbled under her breath while shuffling some papers on the counter. Harry and Hermione shuffled their feet nervously, neither of them daring to say anything. 

After a few silent minutes she looked up and jumped seeing them. "Is there a reason you're here?"

"Er, yes ma'a, umm no, I mean yes," Harry took a deep breath and stood up straighter, "Yes, yes there is. We'd like to rent two rooms." 

She looked at them both for a long time. "Alright, that'll be 100 pounds."

"WHAT?" Hermione finally spoke up. "It says on your sign that it's 33 each on that sign," she said while pointing at a neon yellow sign behind the woman.

"Oh yeah," she said feigning an apologetic tone, "silly me. Well then, 66 pounds it is." 

Harry looked expectantly at Hermione. "What?" she asked confused. 

"Well don't you have money? I sure don't." 

Hermione's eyes widened a little at this. She bit her bottom lip while going through her front jeans pocket.  She pulled out a few crumpled bills, a few coins, a button, and some lint.

"Well? How much is it?" Harry asked. Hermione bit her bottom lip a little harder.

"Thirteen pounds, and 32 pence," she answered in a small voice. Harry offered a frustrated grunt and looked through his pockets as well—to no avail. He had left all his money in his trunk which was with Mrs. Weasley. 

The heavily make-upped woman at the counter threw her head back and laughed loudly and Harry and Hermione glanced at each other nervously.  "So you _kids_ have no money at all," it was more of a statement than a question, and she especially emphasized the word 'kids'. Harry and Hermione started to make their way to the door dejectedly with Hermione mumbling a 'sorry to have bothered you'.

Harry had his hand on the door knob when they both heard a "WAIT!" making them turn around, looking at the woman expectantly.

"Do you guys know how to wash dishes properly?" 

~*~*~*~

Three hours, 137 plates, 159 forks, 122 knives, 98 spoons, 279 glasses, 13 greasy pans, and a soapy water fight later, Harry and Hermione tiredly made their way up the stairs towards room number 256—the only available room inside of the inn. The hotel worker had smirked when handing over the keys and they wouldn't find out why until later.

They had made a deal with the woman who they found out was named 'Candi' (Candi with an 'I' not a 'Y'—Harry learned that lesson the hard way). The restaurant next-door was owned by the same owner as the inn and Harry and Hermione both clearly heard they were short of workers. In return for washing dishes, they received a room to sleep in, provided they left early in the morning, which was no problem since that was their plan anyway.

Harry and Hermione were lucky to get the last room in the hotel—er...or so they thought. Upon stepping into the room, Harry gagged and Hermione looked like she was about to dash right back out of the room. The room was obviously some type of...honeymoon suit...without the 'suite' part, that is. The room looked like the type of room that was rented by the hour being small and having red velvet covered walls adorned with pink hearts. There were no windows and a huge heart shaped bed covered in frilly pink sheets took up most of the room. There were even mirrors on the ceiling on top of the bed and the room smelled..._bad_. That was the only way to describe the smell. 

Harry and Hermione just stared silently for a few minutes. Finally, Hermione let out a nervous laugh that sounded more like a whimper. Harry let out a breath and wrinkled up his nose in disgust. Too exhausted to even complain out loud, Harry threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes tiredly. 

It had all been too much today. It was hard to believe that just this morning, Harry had almost died. Hell, he _had_ died. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Harry was at the Leaky Cauldron, eating lunch with his friends. Then, the Death Eaters had attacked, and Harry and Hermione had been portkey'd to the Riddle House. He had endured a broken arm, as well as the Cruciatus, and he had used the killing curse—something that most adult wizards had trouble with. He had fought Voldemort, _again_, and Harry and Hermione had half-run, half-stumbled, about 10 miles. His body was killing him; his legs felt like they were made out of both jelly and lead, and his arms felt like they would fall off any minute now. He was beyond tired, and he felt like he could sleep for at least a year. 

Harry barely noticed the light turning off through his eyelids, and a weight laying down next to him in the heart-shaped bed, before he fell into a deep sleep.

**Review Responses:**

(Btw, they're not in any particular order)

*takes deep breath*  Okay....there are a _ton_ of reviews I'm going to have to respond to (not that I'm complaining), so here I go:

**JadeMLSkywalker - Ah, one of my most loyal reviewers! I always love reading what you have to say. As you can tell, nope I didn't kill off Hermione. I know I'm evil, and this fic has helped bring out my inner Slytherin qualities, but I'm not quite that evil. Maybe later in the story ;-) mwuhahaha (my impression of evil laughter). Thanks again for reviewing.**

**short-blondie**** - And I'm sorry but you won't be finding out what's in that little box for a while. Thanks! **

**Facade1 - *hands over handkerchief* I'm sorry dear. I didn't mean to make you cry hysterically. Or did I? *pauses deep in thought* Hmm...yes, I've decided I did. It's my new goal now to make Facade1 cry hysterically in every chapter (almost every chapter).  **

**Peak**** of **Truimph****** - The coolest part was someone mentioning your name in a story? Well I always like to please so here's your name: Peak of Truimph. Hehe...omg, I'm so sorry. I'm in a totally weird mood right now. lol ;-) Thanks for your awesome review.**

**Celtic55 - Ah, one of my favorite reviewers and my first _real_ Harry Potter friend. lol ;-) I'm glad you like chapter 9 a lot. You think Harry's frustration is written realistically? Wow, thanks, that's always my goal. I know I've already talked to you (albeit a bit mysteriously) about the H/Hr thing you've mentioned, and I just wanted to comment that you were the only one that pointed that out. I was pretty shocked; I think it seemed a little _too_ obvious, but no one except you mentioned it. Thanks a lot!! Keep up the _great_ reviews!**

**Commander R. - Yep, you're definitely not the only one who was sobbing. Why did I have to kill her? Well, I love torturing ppl. Oh God, that came out totally wrong. hehe...I'm so glad you like my story! Keep up the reviews!**

**Alan - Yay! Another one of my most loyal reviewers! I'm so glad you liked chapter 9. Thanks for telling me all of the parts you like; I love it when people do that! Thanks for your awesome review; I'm always looking forward to them!**

**Lolly****Phoenix**** - Yup, as you've seen in chapter 10 and 11, Harry was definitely not pleased. (hehe, did you like Harry kicking Wormtail in the gut _just for good measure_? I didn't quite rip his head off, but I'm sure Harry was close.) God help them indeed. I hope you liked this chapter, and keep up the great reviews! I love them!              **

**HavenKane - Yep, Harry's definitely a little busy at the moment. Let's see...he's had wicked bad dreams about a Hogwarts massacre, he's run away, he's been chased by the Order, and survived a Death Eater attack, he **_died_** and came back to life, he's gone to Diagon Alley only to be attacked by more Death Eaters, and he's already faced off against Voldemort. And the summer isn't even over yet!!! Yep, I'd say Harry's way too busy right now....lol ;-) Like I said you'll find out what's in the box in a little while (probably around Halloween). Thanks for your awesome review again!!**

**FroBoy - Well I never said I was a nice person!! ;-) Thanks and keep up the reviews!!**

**Nerwen**** Faelvirin - Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter; it _was_ longer ;-)      Keep up the reviews!**

**Chibi-Bex**** - I hope chapters 10 and 11 answered some of your questions. You've got a badly bruised fourth finger? *winces* Ouch, that sounds painful. Bloody volleyball? You hate that game? *winces again* Double ouch on that one!! I _love_ volleyball! It's about the only sport that I love to play, and that I'm actually good at!! *huffs in indignation* You've just mortally offended me for your information!! But I guess I can forgive you. *grins*  lol ;-) Thanks again!!**

**Émilia**** Potter - Thank you for your reviews, especially what you said about Harry's dream! You really could smell the dead bodies? That's great! I always try to explain it the best I can, and I'm glad to hear I did well on that particular aspect. Hey! It says you're from Montreal in your profile? Is that true? If it is, that's so cool! I only live about an hour and a half from there! It's a wicked cool city! I love it (especially the croissants) ;-) ! Thanks and keep up the good reviews!**

**ping*****pong5 - You were speechless? Wow...thanks for your awesome compliments! Keep up the good reviews! **

**Slimpun - Thanks!**

**snifflesaboutsnuffles** - Hehe, I _love_ your screen name...lol, it's adorable. Keep up the reviews!

**Sorrow1 - Thanks for your suggestion...I hope you liked this chapter!**

**phoenix**** friend - Thanks for the summary!! You're the only person that actually wrote one. I'm still taking it into consideration. Thanks a lot again, and I hope you keep reviewing!**

**Srialb - You thank me? Wow, I think you're the first to actually _thank_ me for writing it! Thank _you_ for reviewing.**

**Vanna**** - Awww, thanks so much! Thanks for your suggestion about longer chapters...this one is longer, so I hope you liked it! Keep reviewing!**

**Brightest Star - *blinks owlishly and stares at computer screen* umm...okay then...lol. Wow, you're one of the first people that's ever yelled at me like that for a cliffhanger. hehe ;-) Yes, I know I'm evil for that cliffhanger. And you say the story is absolutely perfect? Wow...thank you so much!! This was one of my favorite reviews so far, thank you! I'll definitely keep updating!**

**Claire - Hey girl! Aww, thank you so much for the review you did for chapter 8. It was so sweet and I almost cried! It made me so happy! Now for your other review: *cringes* Yep, I killed the little girl. I'm sorry! *pauses* hmm...actually, not really *laughs evilly*. Ugh, I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you!! I really wanted to too. :-( Oh well, maybe next weekend? *grumbles about time difference* Thanks for reviewing, Claire,  and let me know what you thought of this chapter!**

**gaul1 - Thanks!**

**Molly Morrison - Thank you for reviewing! You'll come up with something bad if I don't update? Huh, I'd like to see you try!! Lol...j/k. I hope I updated soon enough for you!**

**Solaris Isa - Wow! You definitely win the award for worst threat! I hope your hair is alright? Must be a pain to wash it with all that super glue! Doesn't it melt away? lol...j/k. Huggles and Kisses and pain? Wow, that's a nice contrast. lol...seriously though, thank you for your review! I enjoyed it immensely and I'm going to try to give you a cliffhanger soon just to see you come up with another creative way to threaten me ;-) Thanks again!**

**CrecentMoon - I'm cruel you say? You know, you're not the first person that's told me that! Lol...you saw that Harry didn't win that easily. Where would be the fun in that? Hehe, thanks for your review! **

**FireCracker2000 - Yay! You're back! I thought you had left me permanently for a while. I don't exactly remember what Tonks did in Chapter 5, but sure, I agree 'yay for Tonks!'...lol. Thanks Helen for reviewing!! I love reading them. Keep them up! *coughs*andudateyourstory*coughs***

**Jolie - Read the A/N in the beginning. And all I can really say is thank you so much! I doubt it you're reading this since you only reviewed the first chapter, and in it you didn't mention anything about the story but I really hope you are. I wish you had signed in so I could know your e-mail address. Thanks again for providing me with that information, I honestly didn't know and I know tons of people didn't either.**

**athenakitty** - Thanks for reviewing the first three chapters. I'm not sure if your question reviews are good or bad...lol. Don't stop reading!

**Who wants to know? - I want to know!! Hehe, cool screen name. Thank you for reviewing. I hope you review the rest of the chapters as well.**

Wow! Thank you all so much for reviewing!! I don't think I've missed anyone, but I'm sorry if I did. 

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and make sure to let me know if you did—or if you didn't for that matter!


	12. The Only Dauntless Fool

** SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1********Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its components including characters and setting do not belong to me. Also, specifics for 'packing the courts' can be found on my lj.**

**A/N:** Author notes are at the end of this chapter but here's just a quick one to all of the **non** H/Hr shippers (namely Meghan (**totallystellar**), since she's really the only one that told me not to make this story H/Hr): Don't go having heart attacks after the first scene of this chapter, alright? Just remember that not everything is as it seems!!! This message actually goes to everyone, not just non H/Hr shippers. The purpose of the first scene was basically just to point out that Harry is a hormonal teenager just like the rest of us ;-) The story has been far too serious lately, and I just wanted to lighten it up a little, and what better way to do that than an embarrassing situation for our main characters? Here's chapter 12, I hope you enjoy it:

**Chapter 12: The Only Dauntless Fool**

He grinned widely, with closed eyes, at the hot mound of flesh on top of him. He had slept peacefully for the first time since he could remember, and currently the smooth velvet of the bed sheets under his back, and the soft mound of hair on top of his bare chest, tickled his still aching body, making him squirm in indescribable pleasure. He stroked the delicate head of hair that was situated on top of his chest, and worked his hands down her back. In response, she started drawing circles and figure eight patterns on his warm bare chest with her cold fingertips, the contrast driving him insane with lust. Her head tilted back and, eyes still closed, he hungrily crushed his mouth onto the crook of her smooth neck. His hot mouth began to kiss and suck and nibble deliciously, and she encouraged him with a soft moan. His mouth trailed over her bare neck and he kissed the smooth curve of her chin, the thin skin of her closed eye lids, her delicate nose, her warm cheeks, and every other excruciatingly wonderful part of her face, ending with her mouth. It was a tentative kiss at first; the soft tissue of her lips making him want to stay with her forever. Her body was still pressed tightly against his, making them deepen the warm kiss; the underlying taste of warm honey and chocolate was driving him wild with pleasure. His hands were under her cotton shirt roving up her hot and sweaty back with a new maddening need he'd never experienced before, while she laced her hands in his unruly hair. His hands frustratingly roamed over her bra strap numerous times before he decided to take the infernal thing off altogether. Finding the metal clasp easily, he worked on opening the damned thing, when a loud voice of a female made them both come crashing back to reality.

"Alright you lovebirds," a loud muffled screech made them gain consciousness again, with a sinking feeling of confusion, and later shock and horror. "You have half an hour to be out of the room before I call the police!"

Harry and Hermione's eyes widened and immediately they both scrambled off each other, both simultaneously falling off the bed in opposite directions. Harry sat there breathing heavily, the effects of the dream—or what he thought was a dream—still lingering heavily on his body. The sweetly stinging sensation of Hermione's kiss still lingered on his soft lips. Looking down, he noticed his bare chest with a feeling of dread, and felt around the floor for his shirt. The flesh around his left eye was throbbing painfully and he was having trouble seeing without his glasses in the darkened room. He turned the bedside lamp on, and—_'are those hearts_?' Harry looked up at the pink light reflecting off the mirrors on the ceiling from the lampshade. Suddenly the events of the previous day came crashing back to him. His eyes widened and he looked around himself at the sleazy, pink and red hotel room. He lifted himself off the floor slightly so he was in a kneeling position, and looked over the edge. 

"Hermione?" he asked tentatively.

She squeaked but looked over the edge of the other side of the bed inquiringly.

"You...I mean...nothing...er, we didn't...," Harry stuttered stupidly avoiding looking into her face, his voice breaking. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and tried again. "Nothing happened, right?" he asked pointing at each of them in turn.

Hermione's eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently making Harry breathe a sigh of relief. 

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Harry cleared his throat once more and stood up clumsily, picking up the t-shirt on the floor in the process.

"I'm going to take a shower," he announced. Hermione didn't even acknowledge him while he walked toward the door opposite the frilly, heart-shaped bed. 

Closing the door behind him, Harry leaned against it heavily and sank to the tile floor wearily mumbling to himself, "a _cold_ shower."

~*~*~*~

Thirteen hours later, they arrived at Hogwarts. Due to their serious situation, both Harry and Hermione passed the early morning..._thing_...off for a dream, neither talking about it. They both tried to act normally around each other, but it seemed rather forced, resulting in uncomfortable small talk. After an hour of attempted conversation, they both decided they preferred silence over useless small talk. 

Both of their bodies still ached from the previous day and they hadn't gotten more than four hours of sleep last night. Their journey was tiring and..._strange_, for a lack of a better word, as well. It had consisted of a drunk taxi driver, getting mugged, a boat with drug dealing Mafia members, a trip to the downtown police station, a few handy memory charms, a Triathlon, and a truck carrying a load of plastic rubber duckies (yes, _plastic_ rubber duckies). 

"Should we knock?" Hermione asked uncertainly, standing in front of the large oak doors leading into the interior of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Um...yes? I suppose we should." And with that Harry raised his arm to knock—to have it fall back weakly. He tried again, but it just trembled uselessly for a second before falling again. "Hermione," he said wearily, "my arms feel like their made out of lead, can you do it?" 

Hermione nodded mutely, having no energy to even laugh. She also raised her hands, to the same useless effect. 

"Screw knocking," Harry growled annoyed while pushing the heavy doors open, Hermione doing the same.

The entrance hall was as grand as they remembered it. It was dark with only a few torches lit along the walls. They instinctively stepped towards the Great Hall, their footsteps echoing through the large hall loudly. They reached the large oak door, behind which muffled voices could be heard, simultaneously took a deep breath, sharing a glance, and pushed it open.

~*~*~*~

The Great Hall was brightly lit and Harry had to squeeze his eyes shut at first. They had been walking in darkness for hours and to be faced with a bright room was sheer torture to the eyes. 

The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall reflected the night sky and stars were twinkling excitedly from behind some stray clouds. The previously mentioned torches were shining brightly, creating large shadows of all shapes on the walls. It would have been all very beautiful, had Harry been in the state of mind to enjoy it. 

The four house tables were idiosyncratically bare, making them look even longer and larger than usual. Up above at the staff table, seemingly the whole Order of the Phoenix was assembled. It was rather unusual that Hermione and Harry hadn't been noticed yet.

There were some twenty people—give or take a few—seated around the staff table in avid discussion. Harry recognized Tonks with her spiky electric blue hair, Mad-Eye Moody with his magical eye which was currently staring daggers at Professor Snape who was scowling with his arms crossed. Mr. Weasley was comforting a crying Mrs. Weasley, and even Fred and George Weasley were wearing unusually concerned expressions on their young faces. Remus Lupin was particularly pale, and his face was drawn into a deep frown. That, along with his graying hair and shabby robes, made him look a decade older than he was. Various other members also sat around the table; Harry dimly recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt who was currently in a seething discussion with Dumbledore (Harry frowned seeing him), the stately-looking Emmeline Vance, black-haired Hestia Jones, square-jawed Sturgis Podmore, and typically excitable Dedalus Diggle, among others.

By now, Harry and Hermione were standing in the middle of the hall, and still walking closer, but no one had noticed them. Harry could clearly hear the conversation going on now.

"Albus," Remus Lupin spoke in his usual calm voice, "Kingsley and I have organized an extensive table of possible whereabouts. We need to sen—"

"Headmaster," a scowling Professor Snape interrupted, "we can't afford to send people looking for them now. It's useless—if the Dark Lord has those incurable children, they're already dead by now."

Hearing this, Mrs. Weasley gave another heart-wrenching sob while Snape just glared at Lupin who had opened his mouth to speak again. Harry couldn't take anymore of this and made their presence known.

"So glad you have so much faith in us, _Professor_ Snape," he spoke sarcastically, his loud voice vibrating off of the walls creating an odd echoing effect.

Everyone visibly jumped at hearing Harry's voice (except for Dumbledore—_'does anything surprise that man?'_). Professor Snape's scowl grew, and Remus looked relieved. Fred and George's faces broke into identical grins, and Mrs. Weasley squeaked, jumped up and started making her way hurriedly towards them. Harry avoided looking at Dumbledore, but he knew his eyes would be twinkling wildly. 

"How do we know that's really them?" Moody suddenly growled, making Mrs. Weasley freeze in mid-step. Moody continued talking with his wand pointed at Harry and Hermione in a threatening manner, "It could be some Death Eaters impersonating them, probably setting us up for an attack. Or maybe—"

"That's quite enough, Alastor," Professor Dumbledore interrupted. "I know it's them." 

"Of course, you know everything, don't you?" Harry murmured, eyeing Dumbledore irritably. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice but Hermione did and nudged his ribs sharply with her elbow. Harry yelped quietly and glared at her. "Will you stop with the abuse already, woman? As if a black eye isn't enough," he mumbled, half-annoyed, half-amused, so only she could hear him. They were both oblivious to everyone staring at them.

"—so I'm sure you wouldn't mind," Dumbledore finished. Harry hadn't heard a word he said, and by Hermione's next words it seemed she hadn't either.

"We're sorry, Headmaster. Could you repeat that?" she asked while blushing.

The old wizard merely smiled while repeating his request for them to sit down and to hear about their actions and whereabouts of the last two days.

Harry crossed his arms and pursed his lips while taking the seat furthest away from the headmaster, Hermione in tow. Hermione sensed his resistance and sighed, planning on starting their preposterous tale.

"Where do we start?" she asked more to herself, but Dumbledore heard her.

"We know that you both have been abducted by portkey from Diagon Alley. But unfortunately, that's all," Dumbledore told her in a would-be-helpful tone. "We've been spending the better part of yesterday and today searching for you. But, alas, you could have been anywhere, Great Britain is a large area," Harry snorted at that; Dumbledore was great at the art of stating the obvious. If Dumbledore noticed, he didn't show it, and merely continued, "We started mapping possible locations for where you could have been, and we were just discussing our next step."

"Well," Hermione continued, "after someone had given us the portkey—not that we took it voluntarily—we got to some house. I'm still not sure where we were," at this Hermione looked at Harry for a response.

"We were at the Riddle's family home in Little Hangleton," Harry replied tonelessly. Dumbledore looked intrigued while the others looked either confused or curious. It was obvious no one had heard that it even existed. 

"Right. Well, Wormtail pleasantly greeted us," Hermione continued, her voice dripping in undisguised sarcasm, "After a little while, Voldemort came." Some Order members flinched, and others hissed; Dedalus Diggle even dropped the teacup he was holding spilling tea all over the front of his robes. This annoyed Harry more than anything. _'It's just a stupid name—not even his real one—why were they so scared of it?'_

Hermione just ignored them and went on, "Um...," Hermione seemed like she was struggling to remember what had happened next. "Oh yeah, Voldemort put the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail because the Death Eaters were supposed to take Ron as well." Mrs. Weasley turned white at that and let out some sort of strangled whimper.

Hermione continued talking and got up to the part where Harry got hit with the Cruciatus Curse as well—Harry's features were carefully masked to not reveal a thing—until Hermione abruptly stopped talking. Her eyes unfocused slightly and she was staring straight ahead reminiscent to someone remembering something. Her face scrunched up and she shook her head slightly as if to relieve a headache. Harry looked at her worriedly and gently touched her forearm.

"'Mione? You okay?" he inquired in a soft voice.

Hermione jumped as if forgetting he was there, or even where she was. The members of the Order looked on worriedly as well. 

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," she said distractedly. "Um, Harry? Maybe you should tell them the next part," Hermione suggested while biting her lower lip. Her tone was a questioning one, and her voice was barely above a whisper. Harry was confused—and it showed. What was the matter? 

Realization hit him swiftly and his face turned expressionless again. If one paid close attention, they would have seen a brief flash of pain run through his face. He did as Hermione asked and continued with the tale in a monotonous voice.

"Voldemort," Harry ignored the hisses and winces, "put me on the Imperius Curse next." After a long pause, Harry took a deep breath and continued.

"He told me to kill Hermione." Harry couldn't help but look up at the Order members to see their reactions. Dumbledore looked grave and was staring directly at him. Harry quickly averted his gaze from those deep blue orbs. Most of the others' expressions (with the exception of Snape) showed the same thing—sympathy. He _hated_ sympathy. 

Hermione sensed this and continued for Harry diverting the attention from him to her. "Well, I'm obviously not dead, so Harry fought the curse. After he fought it, Ha—ouch!" Hermione broke off rubbing her ribs. Harry had not-so-subtly jabbed her side with his elbow.

"Harry, you have to tell them," she told him sternly, not bothering to lower her voice. Harry crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. 

"Fine," he hissed. Harry felt a pinch of guilt at seeing the hurt in her eyes, but quickly pushed it down and turned back to the anxiously waiting Order members with narrowed eyes.

"I performed the killing curse on Voldemort."

~*~*~*~

After explaining the rest of their trip (tactfully leaving out the details of the honeymoon suit, as well as their little field trip to Muggle jail, and illegally performed memory charms), Dumbledore looked grave and excused himself—not before telling Harry to meet him in his office after getting checked up by Madam Pomfrey herself. 

Harry _really_ didn't want to meet Dumbledore now. His body hurt and his limbs felt like they were made out of lead. He couldn't feel his fingers or toes at all, and he had a massive migraine. Part of the reason for this migraine was that Hermione had ruined his glasses when she had...uh..._punched_ him. After he had tripped over a chair, walked into a bedpost, and missed the doorway by three feet, Madam Pomfrey had exasperatedly performed a temporary vision adjustment charm until he had the time to get new glasses.

Another reason that Harry wasn't looking forward to the talk with Dumbledore besides because of the way his body hurt, and the fact that he was almost passing out in exhaustion, was that he still hadn't forgiven him for what he had said at the hotel in Wales. He had already had mixed feelings about him after the talk at the end of last term, and his accusations of Harry being _selfish_ had just thrown him over the edge. He didn't even want to _think_ about that conversation, but he knew it was inevitable. The conversation would no doubt be brought up.

Currently walking down the dark corridor towards Dumbledore's office, Harry couldn't deny the smug feeling he had felt when he saw the initial flash of surprise in the old man's eyes after he had told everyone he performed the killing curse—_and_ it worked to some extent. There was no doubt that had Harry performed the same killing curse on an ordinary wizard that didn't have the powers Voldemort had, he would have succeeded. _That_ was the surprising part. Harry wasn't meant to give a normal wizard more than a nosebleed, much less actually knock Voldemort out. 

The whole situation was rather bittersweet. The sweet part was that the Order---or the wizarding world in general---had found out that Voldemort could not be killed with a mere killing curse. The bitter part was that the Order---or the wizarding world in general---had found out that Voldemort could not be killed with a mere killing curse. 

It was good that they had found out that Voldemort could not be killed with the killing curse. It's vital information that the Order needed. It could save the lives of many people—namely, those dauntless fools that are just tired of the whole Voldemort bullshit and actually have the courage to put an end to it by just killing the bastard once and for all. 

Of course the whole situation was bad. Nothing could have been worse than finding out that the killing curse did not work on Voldemort. Naturally, Dumbledore and the Order had their suspicions, and now they were proven correct. Now those previously mentioned dauntless fools that were tired of the whole Voldemort bullshit have to find a way to kill the bastard. A way that does not require the killing curse. Of course, if the prophecy and Dumbledore were correct, Harry _was_ one of those previously mentioned dauntless fools. The only dauntless fool, in fact. __

_'Typical,'_ Harry thought dryly.

By now, Harry had made it up to Dumbledore's second floor office and mumbled the password to the stone gargoyle. Standing in front of the wooden door, Harry took a deep breath and knocked while calling to whatever deity that was listening to make this meeting short.

"Come in, Harry," the strong voice of Professor Dumbledore called.

Harry opened the door and made his way into the large, circular office. Professor Dumbledore's office hadn't changed in the least since the last time he saw it. The office held a comfortable atmosphere, not being overly neat. The many portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses decorated the walls, taking up almost all of the space. Many of them were sleeping away, while others looked at Harry either curiously, or with sympathy, and some even with contempt. Harry instinctively looked towards Fawkes' perch beside the door, but it was unusually bare and absent of the phoenix he had come to know. Letting his eyes continue their customary tour of the office, Harry blushed seeing the spindle-legged table once more intact, with its delicate silver instruments puffing and whirring tranquilly upon it.

"As you may have noticed, no permanent damage was done and everything has been repaired and replaced," Dumbledore, sitting behind the large, parchment littered desk, spoke referring to the 'incident' that caused the delicate instruments and table to be wrecked in the first place. Harry took a seat in front of the desk and blushed once more but looked up at the headmaster determinately.

"I'm very sorry, Headmaster," he said honestly. He really was sorry. He didn't really mean everything he had said, and especially not with the way he said it. At the time, he was still in shock and denial about..._his_ death. Harry couldn't believe Dumbledore had blamed himself when it was clearly Harry's own fault that Sirius was dead.

The old wizard chuckled warmly, "that's quite alright, my dear boy." 

They both stayed silent for a long time. Harry was subjected to a most soul-piercing gaze by the old wizard. He calmly returned it, refusing to look away this time. Their last conversation couldn't help but make its way into Harry's mind once more. Harry thought he should feel abashed for what he said, but he couldn't find an ounce of regret or remorse inside his body. Unlike the last time Harry had been in Dumbledore's office, he had meant every word he said back at the hotel. Perhaps saying them in a more respectful manner wouldn't have hurt, but he wasn't going to dwell on 'what if's' now—he'd had enough of those to last a lifetime.

After five minutes of silence under Dumbledore's unwavering piercing gaze, realization for the silence hit him full force, almost making him laugh bitterly in morbid amusement.

"I'm not sorry for what I said, Professor Dumbledore," Harry stated bluntly. Professor Dumbledore merely blinked and chuckled lightly, infuriating Harry even more. 

"Yes, Harry, I know that. I also know that you were completely right," Dumbledore stated sincerely making Harry blink in surprise. "In fact," he went on, "I would like to apologize for what I said. It was completely wrong for me to assume something without acquiring your reasons first." 

Harry truthfully hadn't been expecting an apology from the old wizard. There was nothing to do but nod his head in an accepting gesture. Dumbledore smiled in gratitude and cleared his throat, "that being said, I'd like to give you the opportunity to ask me any questions you may have. I realize that at your home," Harry snorted at that making Dumbledore pause and his eyes twinkle brightly, "I realize that at Privet Drive," he tried again, "you don't have a lot of access to news on what is going on around the wizarding world, and I dare say you've been too busy lately to find out for yourself. So," Dumbledore spread his arms in an inviting manner, "ask away. Of course, direct questions about the Order will not be answered, unless they pertain to you or I see them appropriate to be answered."

Harry was slightly taken aback by this. No one had ever given him free access to anything he wanted to know. He was used to sneaking around with Ron and Hermione having to figure out things for himself. Several incidents came to mind right away. The Order's questions restriction was fair enough; the things that didn't concern him were none of his business anyway (and he knew he'd eventually find out one way or another). 

There were just so many things to ask. Where would he start? Well, that was easy.

"Voldemort," Harry stated with a fierce glint in his bright emerald eyes. "What's going on with him? What's he doing? What are the Death Ea—" 

"One thing at a time, Harry," Dumbledore chuckled holding up an old hand. "Voldemort," his expression turned grave, and the bright twinkle in his eyes diminished significantly, "I'm afraid, isn't concerned with being subtle anymore. He's attacking muggle and wizarding communities all over Great Britain, and he's even started attacking other parts of Europe. 

"He has been recruiting many Death Eaters, of all ages. I regret to say you'll see a significant number of losses in our student body this year, and not only from Slytherin house," Dumbledore said gravely, looking at Harry over the gold rim of his half-moon spectacles. 

Harry frowned at this. Surely there wouldn't be Death Eaters in Gryffindor._ 'What about Peter Pettigrew?'_ his inner voice teased. He absently fingered the golden locket around his neck he had received for his birthday. Harry's face hardened just thinking about that little rat, and the fact that he had lost another chance at seeking revenge just over a day ago. Dumbledore's voice cut any further thoughts short.

"Now, just because some parents that are followers of Voldemort choose to take their children out of Hogwarts, doesn't mean that Hogwarts is safe and free of Voldemort's minions. Quite the contrary, you should be exceptionally careful this year, Harry. Be wary of whom you entrust with your secrets this year; there are many spies on the loose—some closer than you think—and I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about them without sufficient support and evidence," the old wizard warned.

Harry swallowed the lump that was stuck in his throat, and nodded mutely. The idea that anyone could be a spy—his closest friends, the people he lived with, was..._frightening_. The fact that Voldemort was ruthlessly attacking Muggles and wizards alike wasn't a lot more comforting. Before he could give more thought to the manner, Dumbledore continued.

"People all over have been disappearing with little more than the Dark Mark over their home. I'm sure you've even noticed the Muggles speaking about those in their news."

Harry nodded. He _had_ noticed the 'mysterious' disappearances in old newspapers he had shamelessly nicked from the trash bin. The Muggle news Aunt Petunia watched every morning during breakfast, were filled with disappearances. And not only of nameless Muggles; the Prime Minister's daughter had disappeared, and the famous actor, Anthony Andreonette, had also vanished. The major muggle newspapers had referred to them as terrorist attacks—with the Dark Mark as the symbol of the terrorist group—, while the tabloids had reported the disappearances as being outer space Alien abductions.

"Can't the ministry do anything? What's Fudge doing? Is he still being a stubborn bast—" Harry blushed and realized he was talking to the headmaster. The wizard didn't seem to notice Harry's almost slip-up and was humming to himself while staring at the ceiling with twinkling eyes.  Harry cleared his throat and tried again. "Is Fudge still...um...being Fudge?" Dumbledore chuckled and looked back down at Harry.

"Well, Minister Fudge is being more... Fudge—I believe is the term you used—than ever."

Harry growled in frustration, "Why don't the people get rid of him?"

"I'm afraid it's not that easy. The leader of any country—including the Minister of Magic—gains power during times of war, and the people lose power. We currently _are_ in a war. Fortunately, even Minister Fudge can see that now. I have been in contact with him and have been suggesting courses of action he can take, and naturally, he's been ignoring my suggestions and even going out of his way to do the opposite of what I say."

"Aren't there people in the ministry that don't support Fudge? Can't they do something?" Harry asked hopefully.

Dumbledore just clucked his tongue. "I'm afraid there aren't too many of those people. At least not any in any position of power." Dumbledore took a tired breath and continued, "Minister Fudge is basically firing the people that don't support him and giving promotions to the people that do—"

"He can't do that!" Harry interrupted indignantly.

"As Minister Fudge never tires of reminding me, he is the Minister of Magic and can do anything he likes."

"But there's gotta be something in the rules against doing what he's doing," Harry asked inquiringly.

"Oh there is, which is exactly why the people of the wizarding world want to take him out of office."

"And why don't they again?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "There really is no point. The Minister of Magic has a six-year term, and his is completed at the end of the year."

"But even a few months can save lives!" Harry voiced irately.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled more than ever at Harry's insistence. "Yes, I agree, but the people of the wizarding world don't see why to even bother. They are partially right. The removal of any person in office, especially the Minister of Magic, is a long process and would most likely take many months."

Harry frowned and stayed silent for a short time. He exhaled and said dejectedly, "Well, at least Fudge won't get re-elected." 

"Therein lays another problem," Dumbledore said wearily.

Harry looked up sharply. "He won't get re-elected, will he?" he asked in a slightly panicked voice.

Dumbledore chuckled, "No, my boy, he most likely won't get re-elected.

"The problem," Dumbledore continued, "is that Minister Fudge knows that. 

"Tell me, Harry, when you studied History at your primary school, did you ever learn about something called 'packing the court'?"

Harry just shook his head mutely.

"Hmm...yes, it might have been a little advanced. No matter, I'll explain. Do you know anything about the American government?"

Harry just shook his head again, a little quizzically this time. _'Where was he going with this?'_

"I won't go into long details—I know you're tired and are anxious to get to bed" Harry thought that was an understatement, but Dumbledore continued. "The American government is made up of three branches: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The Supreme Court makes up the Judicial Branch while the President is part of the Executive. 

"Well, getting to the point, at the end of the 1930s, an American president named Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to create a new plan known as 'FDR's packing the court plan'. The new bill would add one judge seat for every judge sitting over the age of 70. It also called for a maximum of six new Supreme Court justices. There were a total of fifty new judgeships that might be created by this bill. In this way Roosevelt hoped to gain some measure of control over the only branch of government that was out of his control. 

"The bill was never passed and FDR never was able to add judges. Franklin Roosevelt's plan to pack the court lowered his popularity with the American people. There's still the question today of whether FDR tried to pack the courts so he could have more power in the government, or because he was trying to help make the United States government more efficient."

_'What the hell is he talking about?'_ Harry thought to himself confused. He let Dumbledore know of his confusion—albeit in a more respectful manner. "Professor Dumbledore, that's a nice story and all, but what does Muggle American history have to do with the wizarding world today?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brightly and he answered, "Don't you see, Harry? That's exactly what Minister Fudge is doing now. He's 'packing the courts', so to say. He's filling ministry posts with people that support him and not the Order and I. He's replacing the people that do support our cause with people that don't. Minister Fudge knows he's not going to get re-elected, therefore he's doing as much damage to us and our cause as possible." 

Realization dawned on Harry and he nodded mutely. It made sense that the slime ball Fudge would do something like that.

"Well," Dumbledore said brightly, "I can tell just by looking at you, Harry, that you are ready to fall asleep right in that chair. Not that I blame you," Dumbledore chuckled. It was true. Harry's eyes were drooping shut despite his attempts to stop this. It just didn't seem fair. He hadn't had access to this type of information all summer, and to just leave now, in the middle of his questioning, seemed stupid. As if reading his mind, Dumbledore started talking again. "Now you just get some sleep and we'll finish our talk soon enough," he promised, standing up.

Dumbledore escorted Harry to the door and held it open for him. Harry mumbled a goodbye and was just stepping onto the revolving staircase when Dumbledore called him once more.

"Harry," he addressed him, "don't be surprised if we don't get to finish our talk any time soon," his blue eyes twinkled outrageously and he continued talking with a mysterious smile plastered on his face, "I dare say you will be too busy with another activity at the start of term."

And before Harry had a chance to ask any questions, the oak door closed.

**A/N's: Muwhahaha, now it's your job to figure out exactly what this mysterious activity is. ;-)**

Phew, this chapter took ages to get finished with. It's extra long so don't you all complain. I'm the first one to admit that it was rather boring [no action ;-)], but at least now you all sort of know what's going on in the wizarding world.

I'd love to see someone write maybe a one-shot on what they think happened w/ Harry and Hermione's trip to Hogwarts. To quote this chapter: _'It had consisted of a drunk taxi driver, getting mugged, a boat with drug dealing Mafia members, a trip to the downtown police station, a few handy memory charms, a Triathlon, and a truck carrying a load of plastic rubber duckies (yes, _plastic_ rubber duckies).' _ Hehe, that would be fun to read.

Also, sorry about that impromptu American history lesson, but I hope you all saw the analogy. I don't know anything about British history, so I don't know if a similar thing ever happened there as well.

As always, thank you for your great reviews!! These review responses are unbelievably long (I got a little carried away), so if anyone hates these things, just skip over them to the A/N's at the bottom. Here's the individual review responses (in no particular order):

**Castical - Of course Harry's rant is Harry speaking and _not_ me. Personally, I would have never had the guts to stand up to Professor Dumbledore like that. Due to the nature of your question, I don't think you exactly understand the rant. You're right; Harry is intelligent enough to know Dumbledore's been affected as well, which is why during Harry's rant, he's not saying that Dumbledore _hasn't_ been affected, but rather that Harry _has_ been affected. If you can remember the beginning of that conversation, Dumbledore—rather uncharacteristically (quite on purpose I might mention)—called Harry selfish for running away, stating that he should remember his mother's sacrifice. That's what set off Harry's rant in the first place. Harry didn't run away for his own sake (contrary to the Order's belief), but rather to protect every one at Hogwarts including his friends (and even Professor Dumbledore). I suggest you go back and re-read that scene. It's one of my favorites I've written, and I've gotten a lot of compliments from fine and respectable reviewers and authors alike for that scene. I don't want a little understanding like that to ruin your whole perception of Harry in this fic. Thanks for your review nonetheless, and I hope you don't stop reading!**

**Claire - I'm glad you enjoyed Hermione. Yeah, Candi is definitely a fashion victim...lol. Thank you so much for all your 'help' w/ this chapter. ;-) It was fun. It sucks that I haven't talked to you in a while. How's your Hermione story coming? (BTW, don't say anything about the 'mysterious activity' in your review; I know you know it ;-) ) Luv ya lots and thank you for reviewing!**

**Mlilacorbett** - Wow! Thank you so much for your review!! You read the whole story in one sitting? That's great, thanks!! I'm really glad you liked it!! Yes, I do enjoy cliffhangers a little too much. I've found out it's rather hazardous to your [the reviewers'] health—but hey, nothing a trip to the doctors (or the insanity ward) won't fix. I'm glad I made you laugh w/ the heart-shaped bed. ;-) Keep up the great reviews (and I'm glad you like the comments as well)!! 

**JKs Harry** - Yup—you've found out that Avada Kedavra won't kill Voldie. Like you said, that brings up the question of how either will kill the other. You liked the casual way Harry talked about Voldie not being dead? Notice how Harry just _knew_ he wasn't dead? He didn't even _look_ at Voldemort, but he knew. Yeah, you would think Harry would recognize the graveyard sooner, but remember that Harry didn't exactly get a big chance to look around the first time he was there—I think he was a little preoccupied ;-). Plus, don't most graveyards just look the same to you? Thanks again for you great reviews!

**Curi0uS** - Oh, I think Harry _deserves_ to murder Voldemort at this age. I'm glad you like the story. Sorry for the delay.

**Brightest Star** - Nope, it's all in Harry's POV. I was thinking about switching POV's, but by the time I thought about it, it was already too far into the story, so I decided to keep it rather canon and just have everything in Harry's POV. I'll definitely keep updating...as you can tell, this baby isn't nearly finished. The school year hasn't even begun! ;-)

**Lolly ****Phoenix - That's right, Candi (with an 'I' not a 'Y') was definitely one of my more psychotic creations ;-) Don't worry about Wormtail though, I have big plans, nay HUGE plans for him. The fic should be named after him, that's how big they'll be (and he'll definitely get what he deserves)...but I've probably already said too much so I'll just stop talking now. Thanks for your review; I'm glad you liked this chapter.**

**Angelic_devil - Hey!! Don't worry about 'being behind' in your reviewing. You have absolutely no obligation to review. [I'm glad you do anyway though ;-) ] You were in the hospital? Yikes! Was it serious? I hope not! Yeah, you're right about Pettigrew overlooking Harry's wand—and I'm sure he'll get punished for that as well (not that he doesn't deserve it). Thanks again for your review!!**

**Celtic55** - Hey!! Don't worry about the delay ;-) Like I just told **Angelic_devil up there, you have absolutely no obligation to review. So life's been hell for you too? Join the club...**

Nah, there wasn't a cliffie in chapter 11—I think I've had way too many of those lately. I'm glad you liked it. Heh, yeah I can't complain about reviews...this story has got plenty! I'm glad you made that comment about you liking the action and humor sections—those are the two things that I think I'm terrible at writing myself, so having you say that definitely made my day. You're right, the plot hasn't even started yet. Harry's summer has been a little too busy, wouldn't you say? And we're complaining about our 'hellish' lives. I wouldn't exactly want to be in Harry's shoes right now...I think I'll stick with my buckets of homework, thank-you-very-much. Hehe...I hope you liked this chapter.

**Nasser Himura** - Yup, there's no use denying it—I think this will definitely be H/Hr in the end. I know I've dropped lots of hints. I'm glad you support that, except beware—it'll be extremely slow. I don't believe that people that have been best friends for years all of a sudden fall in love in the blink of an eye. Hope you liked the first scene ;-). I'm glad you like the story so far!! Please keep up the reviews!

**gaul1** - Hehe, yeah I agree, interesting situation to wake up to, as you saw—deep down after all of Harry's problems like Voldemort, death, Voldemort, Death Eaters, Voldemort, gullible wizarding people, oh and did I mention Voldemort?—Harry is just a hormonal teenagers like the rest of us (teenagers that is) ;-) . Thanks for your awesome review!!

**Tobaloo** - OMG!! Thank you so much for your review! I was laughing so hard I fell off my bed!! You want Butch to come back as a ghost and be Nick's pet? *giggles* ...omg, that's hilarious!! I definitely have to consider that ;-) . Okay, on to your other questions, yep, you sort of found out what happened to everyone else—I'll go into more detail next chapter, like where Ron and Ginny are. I'm not sure Ron would be the first to admit his own reaction *cough*panic*cough*, but you'll see what he has to say next chapter. Keep up the _great_ reviews!!! 

**Gaheris - Wow! Thank you so much!! I'm really glad you like my writing style; not a lot of people have commented on it. Yes, Harry's definitely outgrown childhood. Well, my plans right now are H/Hr, but like I've warned one of my previous reviewers, it will most likely be extremely slow. Oh, btw, I was reading your bio page and I noticed it says you're German. Is that true? Do you live there? What part? I'm German also; I lived in Germany for about 7 years before moving to the US. Danke! Ich hoffe du magst dieses Kapitel!**

**Celebony - Wow! You're my hero! I can't believe you actually found time to read this fic, review it,..._and_ you're putting it on your favorites list? *is speechless* Honestly though, thank you very much. You don't know how much I appreciate it; you are like one of my favorite authors and I'm in love with your fic! Okay, since I totally appreciate you reviewing almost all of my chapters (and they're all long too!), I'm going to split up your review (I think it's self-explanatory that each number stands for the chapter) ****4) *squeals* Ooh, I'm so glad you liked the song—you don't know how much fun that was to write and I know lots of ppl commented on it, so thanks for that! Yeah poor Harry :( he never really thinks about himself (like you've pointed out wonderfully in your fic). ****5) I'm so glad you liked the runaway Harry thing! Hehe, yeah him dodging Snape was pretty cool. You can bet Snape won't be too happy when he talks to him again ;-). I so hope Harry will get a pet snake in the books too! JKR (unfortunately) totally ignored the Parseltongue thing after book 2, which totally made me sad! It really is the perfect gift, and Hagrid is the perfect person to give him it also. Lots of ppl like Sal, so I'm glad you do too. I'm glad you think this fic is 'refreshingly original'! That's my goal, but there are so many fics out there that it's hard to be original. **8)** Doesn't that annoy you how mean the Order members are being? As you can tell, no one really knows why Harry ran away, and they all [including Dumbledore (unfortunately) before Harry's little rant] thought it was for his own benefit. Poor Harry :(  Yeah, Harry's dreams are pretty serious, and I promise Dumbledore is looking into them (you just thought nobody was since this story is all from Harry POV and we don't really get to see what's going on w/ everyone else). Hehe, yeah your comment 'I mean dying in your sleep and then coming back to life after floating is something Harry can totally deal with on his own. (Note dripping sarcasm.) ' is totally true ;-) ****10) Heh, yeah the little girl was adorable, and Harry giving an autograph to her was so Harry-ish. (Wait till Malfoy gets hold of that information! *cackles evilly*) And you're right, she did have to die for plot's sake. Hey, at least she died happy, right?  Yeah, Ron was totally flipping out, but of course he's not going to admit that, now is he? ****11) I haven't decided one way or another yet, but if H/Hr do get together, it'll be extremely slow...I'm guessing somewhere at the end of the year Hehe, are you always stuck with dish-washing duty also? Yeah I figured if we can do it, so can our characters, right? Why should they have all the fun—snogging—while we're sweating our asses off washing dishes? Lol, j/k. Thank you again for R&R, I really appreciate it.**

**totallystellar** - Hehe...wow...you're the first person that's ever told me Harry is too emotional. I hadn't originally thought about it, but I think you're totally right! Argh! I'll have to go back and change it a little. OMG!! I loved your renditions, especially the MisterV one...hehe! You so have to write me more!! Please? Blah, cry me a river, JT. Lol. OMG,

Voldemort: Boy, I shall now make you harm Hermione!! *now makes him harm hermione*  
Harry: NO, I SHALL NOT!! BACK, BACK I SAY, YOU EVIL-DOER, YOU. . . . DOER OF EVIL! *shoots mean curseys*  
Voldemort: *shrinking* AHH, NO NO, I'M. . . . I'M . . . . .I'M MELTING! *defeated cackle*  
Harry: My work here is done. *blows steam off of wand tip*

That was hilarious!! 

As for H/Hr...don't worry! I haven't decided one way or another yet, and if I do decide H/Hr, it'll be so slow, you won't even notice. They probably won't get together till the end of the year, if even. Please don't stop reading! Please send another fun review this way!  
  


Thanks also to **Avvy Kavvy, ****mel, **o0true0o**, ****athenakitty, & ****FroBoy. You guys are the best!**

Please review Chapter 12 and let me know what you thought of it. Also, I'm sure you've all noticed that annoying '_SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1_' that shows up in the beginning of each chapter. Does anyone know how to get rid of it? All I do every time I post is save my chapter under Microsoft Word under 'web page' or html format. Erm...help?

Also, I have finally decided that I need one or two beta readers, so if you're interested check out my livejournal for requirements (should be December 29th entry, or somewhere around there). My sn is s11twin, and there's a link in my bio page.

Thanks again everyone for R&R!


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